Thunder Announcer Who Said Russell Westbrook Was "Out Of His Cotton-Pickin' Mind" Suspended For One Game

Oklahoma City TV announcer Brian Davis has been suspended by the team for Game 1 of the Thunder’s first-round series against the Jazz after he used the phrase, “out of his cotton-pickin’ mind” to describe Russell Westbrook in the team’s final regular-season game.

The Thunder’s radio announcer Matt Pinto will take over TV duty for the game while Davis is out. Davis reportedly met with players on Friday, and he released a statement apologizing for his choice of a phrase with racist connotations.

Davis’s suspension comes as a bit of a surprise, because it was only yesterday that the Thunder’s VP of broadcasting*, Dan Mahoney, seemed content with simply calling him out. When asked on Thursday if Davis would make a public statement about his words, this was Mahoney’s response:

“That’s really up to Brian,” Mahoney said. “Again, we’ve expressed to him strongly that it was offensive and inappropriate, and that’s all we can do for right now.”

Apparently Mahoney changed his mind, or someone else decided Davis needed some sort of consequence.

Correction (10:56 a.m. Saturday): This article originally misstated that Dan Mahoney was the “VP of Officiating.” He is the VP of Broadcasting.