Toronto Raptors guard Jamal Shead may want to have a talk with his teammates.
During the fourth quarter of Wednesday’s game between the Raptors and the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, La., Shead aggressively tried to defend against Pelicans guard Dejounte Murray, who used a series of moves to shake free from Shead’s sticky defense. Murray succeeded, sending Shead tumbling onto the court before swishing in a three-pointer.
Instead of running back on defense, Murray decided to add insult to Shead’s bruised ego, standing over him and mocking the Raptors guard.
Here’s what happened.
Dejounte Murray in his face pic.twitter.com/9zgfUSVMDT
— Pelicans Film Room (@PelsFilmRoom) March 12, 2026
Murray was hit with a technical foul for his actions, which he deserved. What upset many fans online, however, was that no Raptors player besides Immanuel Quickley seemed to have Shead’s back after what Murray did.
That was so weak by Toronto for only quickley to defend shead smh
— 🦉 (@ASWJ9100) March 12, 2026
If I’m Jamal Shead, everyone except for Immanuel Quickley is getting called out in the locker room for not stepping up for me.
— Libaan Osman (@libaanstar1) March 12, 2026
No leaders. Dejounte Murray just hit a 3, dropped Shead, stood over him and barked. And except for quickley, no one did anything. Soft.
— BBall Deepdives (@bballdeepdives) March 12, 2026
Raptors teammates not defending Jamal Shead after that play was quite telling, this team is cooked
— AAR (@stoicwalker_) March 12, 2026
Jamal Shead getting shown up while his teammates watched and did nothing told us everything we need to know about this team. Then exchanging pleasantries after the game. Gross.
— slaw (@slawman75) March 12, 2026
Perhaps the Raptors were just too demoralized to take any further action after Murray extended the Pelicans’ lead to 18 points with 1:24 left in the fourth quarter. He quite literally took the fight out of them.
Seeing such inaction from his teammates in a moment like that doesn’t seem like a fair reward for Shead for playing at a high level, regardless of the deficit.
Shead deserves credit for playing with that kind of intensity despite the insurmountable lead. He was not a former Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year winner for nothing.
The Raptors will have to find that fire again after losing four of their last five outings.
They will regroup and look to get back up on Friday against the Phoenix Suns at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario.
