After making an impact in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals, particularly as a defender with a plus-minus of +10, San Antonio Spurs rookie Carter Bryant was notably put on skates by two-time NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in a Game 2, series-tying defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday.
Then the 20-year-old Bryant went viral … for a mid-game restroom break a fan documented on their phone.
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While players typically use locker-room restrooms on gameday, the one Bryant was filmed in was accessible to fans at Oklahoma City’s Paycom Center.
The bizarre video spread like wildfire online. Among other accounts, Legion Hoops aggregated it with a post on X that, as of Friday evening, had 4.4 million views.
A “DEFENSE!” chant can be heard as Bryant is washing his hands in the clip.
Bryant’s Spurs teammate Julian Champagnie was asked about the video on Friday ahead of Game 3 in San Antonio.
“Personally, I wouldn’t want to be recorded in the bathroom,” Champagnie said, via The Athletic’s Jared Weiss. “He had to go to the bathroom; I don’t know what else he was supposed to do. He had to go to the bathroom. He went to the quickest one. So I don’t think anything’s wrong with it.
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“I think, if anything, we should stop recording people in the bathroom.”
He added, facetiously: “Thank you, guys.”
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Champagnie, a 24-year-old wing who went undrafted and has caught on in the NBA with the Spurs, was then asked how he and other players deal with invasions of privacy.
“I think CB (Carter Bryant) handled it great,” Champagnie said. “He just washed his hands. Obviously, me knowing CB, I know that he can tell the kid’s recording him. But just wash your hands, get up out of there and just keep it pushing. There’s nothing really to say, nothing really to do. Cause if he does turn around and say anything, it’s going to be taken in a negative way.
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“So it’s just something you have to — it’s what comes with it, honestly and truly. So it’s what it is.”
Bryant and Champagnie are part of a mostly young Spurs rotation that’s returned the franchise to the doorstep of the NBA Finals. The group is ahead of schedule and undoubtedly well connected.
