NBA fans have been acting up since the COVID-19 restrictions were lifted and spectators are once again inside the arenas. Players have endured racial taunts and Washington Wizard Russell Westbrook had popcorn dumped on him by a Philadelphia 76er fan last week as he exited the game after sustaining an injury. The disrespect continued on Wednesday, May 26, when a New York Knicks fan spit on Atlanta Hawk Trae Young.
The fan who spat on Young was banned from Madison Square Garden indefinitely and the Knicks apologized to Young and the Hawks organization. The Knicks also handed the matter over to authorities but Young declined to press charges. Boston Celtic Tristan Thompson was irate about the incident involving Young and told reporters, “I dare a motherf—– to spit on me. I’ll follow you right to your house.”
Thompson also feels that hostile fans who assault players should face harsher punishments such as a fine and that snatching away season tickets is not enough.
“Because if you spit on someone down the street, don’t you get fined or arrested or some [stuff] like that? If you spit on people in the arena, and you can’t spit on people on the street, it should be the same protocol, I think,” added Thompson.
Retired basketball star and “Inside the NBA” co-host Charles Barkley had an idea for the unruly fans as well and it involves a one-on-one confrontation.
“Y’all guys always get mad when I say what NBA rule I would change. I think you should be able to go up in the stands and beat the hell out of one person per game,” explained Barkley.
“I can’t see why that didn’t take hold,” Barkley’s co-host Ernie Johnson then chimed in.
Barkley fired back, “You don’t think that guy didn’t deserve to get his a– beat right at center court?”
The NBA better the fans under control quickly before they have a repeat of the “Malice in the Palace” brawl when Indianapolis Pacer Ron Artest went into the stands after a Detroit Pistons fan threw a beer at him in 1994. The outcome was players fighting fans and Artest being suspended for 86 games.
Check out Thompson’s response to the spitting incident on page two.
