The New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers each suspended a fan and apologized Thursday for their behaviors against rival players during playoff games, and the NBA said that supporter conduct regulations would be “vigorously enforced” moving forward.
The Knicks said that they had suspended a spectator for spitting on Atlanta player Trae Young, while the 76ers suspended a supporter for throwing popcorn at Washington star Russell Westbrook. Both occurrences happened throughout the evening of Wednesday.
“We investigated the matter and determined that this patron, who is not a season ticket holder, did indeed spit on Trae Young, and for that reason, he is now banned from the Garden indefinitely,” the Knicks said. “We apologize to Trae and the entire Atlanta Hawks organization for this fan’s behavior.”
The 76ers took it a step further since the fan responsible for the Westbrook incident was a season ticket holder. Those tickets have been canceled, and he has been prohibited from attending any future events at their venue.
Neither the Knicks nor the 76ers have disclosed the identities of the supporters participating. The Knicks said that they spoke with authorities.
The 76ers apologized to Russell Westbrook and the Washington Wizards for being exposed to this sort of unprofessional and disrespectful conduct. "It has no place in our sport or venue."
Someone spat on Young as he prepared to inbound the basketball during New York's fourth-quarter victory against Atlanta at Madison Square Garden. Westbrook was exiting the Wizards game in Philadelphia with an ankle ailment when popcorn was thrown on him by someone sitting above the tunnel that leads from the court.
The NBA said Thursday that its fan conduct guidelines would be "vigorously enforced" to maintain a "safe and courteous atmosphere for everyone engaged."
“The return of more NBA fans to our arenas has brought great excitement and energy to the start of the playoffs, but it is critical that we all show respect for players, officials, and our fellow fans,” the NBA said Thursday.
NBA arenas are expecting their greatest audiences of the season for the playoffs, after a regular season in which attendance was severely curtailed due to restrictions implemented to keep players and others safe during the epidemic.
It has not been without incident, and players have expressed their worries.
Players like Westbrook and LeBron James – who weighed in on Twitter quickly after Wednesday's Westbrook incident – obviously think that fan conduct continues to be a significant problem.
“To be completely honest, this shit is getting out of hand, especially for me. The amount of disrespect, the number of fans just doing whatever the fuck they want to do. It’s just out of pocket,” Westbrook said. “There are certain things that cross the line. In any other setting ... a guy was to come up on the street and pour popcorn on my head, you know what happens.
Scott Brooks, the Wizards' coach, said that the man should be suspended from the league, saying Philadelphia is better than that.”
In anticipation of Friday night's Game 3 of the Brooklyn Nets' series against the Boston Celtics, Brooklyn player Kyrie Irving expressed optimism that the atmosphere in Boston will be "strictly basketball," with "no belligerence or racism, subtle racism, people chanting sh*t from the crowd."
Westbrook has previously been involved in high-profile fan-related situations, including one in which a supporter in Utah was accused of directing racist comments his way. Westbrook was fined $25,000 for his response to the event, which drew the ire of Utah star Donovan Mitchell.
“These arenas, they’ve got to start protecting the players. We'll have to wait and see what the NBA does," Westbrook said Wednesday night. “I’ve been in a lot of incidents where fans, they say whatever, and the consequences for me are a lot more detrimental to those people in the stands because they feel like they’re untouchable.”
Following the Westbrook incident in Utah two years ago, the league revised and strengthened its fan code of conduct, including notifying those in close proximity to the players and court that anything out of line would result in ejections and maybe more.
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