Well, this Twitter fight between NBA stars sure escalated quickly

Pettiness, thy name is Chandler Parsons. Or is it actually C.J. McCollum?
 By 
Sam Laird
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Some good-natured trash talk or a general airing of grievances is far from unheard of among pro athletes on social media, but this little beef between two NBA stars got real personal real fast.

Grab your popcorn.

It all starts with some-good natured ribbing during Friday night's game between the Portland Trail Blazers and Memphis Grizzlies. The Blazers' official account tweeted out a GIF making fun of Grizzlies forward Chandler Parsons for air-balling a three-pointer.

No big deal, right? Well, Chandler took exception after the game.

Portland is on track to miss the playoffs this year, while Memphis is on track to qualify. That's what Chandler is referencing in this comeback wishing the Trail Blazers good fortune in the draft lottery for non-playoff teams.

Pettiness, thy name is Chandler Parsons. Or is it actually C.J. McCollum?

McCollum, a Trail Blazers guard, fired back at Parsons in a major way.

Parsons considered signing with Portland this off-season, but instead accepted a massive deal from Memphis. He has, however, had a poor season with the Grizzlies. Portland, McCollum said, "hit the lottery" by missing out on their pursuit of Parsons last summer.

Blazers teammate Damian Lillard seemed to enjoy the burn.

Chandler tried to get the last word in by referencing his $95 million deal with Memphis.

But the internet had already declared McCollum this Twitter fight's winner by TKO.

Portland teammate Evan Turner, meanwhile, was like many of us in that he was grateful just to have witnessed the historic internet fight.

Trail Blazers president Chris McGowan later released a statement saying the original airball tweet from the official team account that set the whole thing off was "probably a little too close to the line" separating humor and mean-spiritedness.

Chandler replied that it's all nothing to get too worked up about.

See? All's well that ends well. But let the record show: Chandler still got burned by McCollum, whose Trail Blazers even picked up a 112-109 win over Memphis on Friday, adding injury to insult.

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Sam Laird

Sam Laird is Mashable's Senior Sports Reporter. He covers the wide, weird world of sports from all angles -- as well as occasional other topics -- from Mashable's San Francisco bureau. Before joining Mashable in November 2011, his freelance work appeared in publications including the New York Times, New York Times Magazine, Slam, and East Bay Express. Sam is a graduate of UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz, and basketball and burritos take up most of his spare time. Follow him on Twitter @samcmlaird.

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