Oklahoma City Thunder star guard Russell Westbrook has certainly had some interesting incidents with fans. Remember when a Philadelphia 76ers fan flipped him off in 2016, and made for a hilarious Westbrook reaction that is now a very popular GIF? Or how about in February when Westbrook pushed away a Nuggets fan on the court in Denver?
Well, there were a couple Westbrook vs Fan moments at Friday night’s Game 6 of the Jazz-Thunder series in Utah, a game that ended Oklahoma City’s highly disappointing season.
As Westbrook was on his way into the tunnel at halftime, a Jazz fan in the front row started heckling him. Westbrook wasn’t having any of it, and angrily fired back with some words:
And moments after the Thunder’s season-ending loss, Westbrook got into it with another fan as he headed to the tunnel. Security jumped in to make sure the situation didn’t get out of hand:
In the postgame press conference, Westbrook told the media that the Jazz fans were being “disrespectful, vulgar.”
Westbrook added, “If I was on the street, they wouldn’t just come up to me and say anything crazy. ‘Cause I don’t play that shit.”
“If I was on the street, they wouldn’t just come up to me and say anything crazy. ’Cause I don’t play that s**t”
Russell Westbrook says fans in Utah have been "disrespectful" to the Thunder pic.twitter.com/cTMPHq0vJZ
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) April 28, 2018
“I don’t confront fans. Fans confront me. Here in Utah, a lot of disrespectful, vulgar things are said to the players here… it’s truly disrespectful. Talking about your families, your kids, and it’s just a disrespect to the game. And I think it’s something that needs to be brought up. I’m tired
I’m tired of just going out and playing, and then the fans say what the hell they want to say. I’m not with that. If I was on the street, they wouldn’t just come up to me and say anything crazy. ‘Cause I don’t play that shit. So I just think it’s disrespectful. They get the chance to do whatever they wanna do. It needs to be put to a stop. Especially here in Utah.”
It will be interesting to see if there’s a response to this from the league office and other NBA players.
[ESPN]
