For once, it seems, Joakim Noah was not the one looking for a fight.

Noah, the Chicago Bulls center, is often the NBA equivalent of an Internet troll. He has had so many run-ins during his career that the satirical website The Onion published an article headlined “Bitter Feud Developing Between Joakim Noah, Rest Of Humanity.”

But last week, when Noah was exchanging postgame pleasantries with some Oklahoma City players in their locker room, the Thunder’s Kendrick Perkins let it be known that he was not happy about the visit from an opponent.

With reporters present, Perkins loudly said, “We just let anyone in here now?”

He and Noah exchanged words, but Noah reportedly kept his cool and asked Perkins if he should leave.

For Noah, that degree of restraint seemed somewhat out of character.

He hardly would seem to be a blue-collar player. His father, tennis player Yannick Noah, was born in France, grew up in Cameroon and won the French Open before becoming a professional singer. His mother, Cecilia Rohde, was Miss Sweden in 1978, seven years before he was born.

Noah, 28, with his long hair and distinctive dress, has always seemed out of step with other professional athletes. At the University of Florida, he became known as a thinking man’s athlete while helping the Gators win back-to-back NCAA championships.

In his seven seasons in the NBA, Noah has been a 6-foot-11 bruiser in the paint, thriving on the dirty work that most current stars avoid. An elite defender, Noah blocks shots, bangs bodies and is one of the league’s top rebounders. It is a style of play that has led to feuds with opponents throughout the league.

Much of Noah’s antagonism comes off as playful, but he has developed a reputation for getting under the skin of opponents, on the court and off. In one memorable instance in 2010, he took on Kevin Garnett, one of the game’s biggest stars, calling him dirty and saying he regretted looking up to the future Hall of Famer as a child.

“He’s a very mean guy,” Noah said in a radio interview. “Where’s the love? None at all. Ugly, too.”

Last season, after Noah had badly outplayed the New York Knicks’ Tyson Chandler, they fought briefly on the court and were ejected. Many players would have chosen not to comment, but Noah took a swipe at Chandler and the Knicks.

“I don’t think they’re used to being down that much,” Noah told reporters, referring to the Knicks’ huge early deficit in the Bulls’ 110-106 victory. “If they were up 20 points, I don’t think they would have been that frustrated.”

But Noah directs most of his vitriol at LeBron James of the Miami Heat. A beloved superstar, James is generally viewed as a freakishly talented goofball, but for a number of seasons Noah has taken offense at James’ style of play and tendency to celebrate on opponents’ courts. He once objected loudly to James’ dancing on the court, and this month Noah talked about disliking the Heat.

After the Bulls beat the visiting Heat, 107-87, Noah said: “You wake up in the morning and you feel it, you feel people in the city they don’t like the Miami Heat. We don’t like the Miami Heat, and it always feels good to beat them.”

He may grow angry with players like James, but Noah has a tendency to back up his big words. He looked energized that night against Miami, with 17 points and 15 rebounds. James had an off night, scoring 21 points and collecting five rebounds. Heat center Chris Bosh had 10 points and two rebounds. Noah’s teammate Luol Deng joked with reporters after the game, saying, “If we played Miami 82 times a season, Jo would probably be the best player in the league.”

Now that the Perkins outburst is public, it will be interesting to see if it instills a similar intensity in Noah when the Bulls play the Thunder again in March. It would not be surprising for Noah to do plenty of talking off the court, and plenty of damage on it.