Amid a rise in disruptive fan behavior across the NBA this week, the Utah Jazz have banned three spectators indefinitely after they allegedly made vulgar and racist comments to the family of Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant.
As Morant’s father Tee told ESPN, there were three incidents between fans and the family during Utah’s 141-129 Game 2 win on Wednesday night in Salt Lake City.
The first incident involved a spectator making a sexually explicit remark to his wife and Ja’s mother, Jamie. Tee told ESPN that security came over and de-escalated the situation.
Amid a rise in disruptive fan behavior across the NBA this week, the Utah Jazz have banned three spectators indefinitely after they allegedly made vulgar and racist comments to the family of Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant
The accused Jazz fans were not identified, but Morant stressed that his family was welcomed by other spectators in Salt Lake City on Wednesday night
Morant wrote on Twitter that his family should be able to cheer for the Grizzlies without ‘inappropriate s***’ from opposing fans
Ja Morant stressed that several Jazz fans were more than hospitable to his parents on Thursday
Not all of the Morant family interactions with Jazz fans were contentious. Two brothers attending the game actually bought a beer for Tee (left), who returned the favor later
However, another Jazz fan later told him, ‘I’ll put a nickel in your back and watch you dance, boy.’
Fortunately, friendly Jazz fans who were seated nearby alerted security about the alleged instigator, and the person was quickly ejected.
A third fan then told Jamie to ‘shut the f*** up, b*****,’ Tee told ESPN.
‘I know heckling,’ Tee said. ‘We were doing that the whole game. But that’s different than heckling. That’s straight up disrespectful. That was too far out of line. You don’t say nothing like that heckling. That’s beyond heckling.’
Morant tweeted about the incidents after his 47-point performance in Game 2: ‘my family should be able [to] cheer for me & my teammates without getting inappropriate s**** said to them.’
He later thanked the ‘other’ Jazz fans who helped identify the accused individuals for security.
‘my family told me they felt the love from all the other jazz fans who were around them even bought each other drinks with a few… those 3 just went too far.’
Two brothers attending the game actually bought a beer for Tee, who returned the favor a bit later.
As for the other, less-hospitable fans, they have been banned indefinitely.
A picture of Morant’s father Tee and his mother Jamie, who were allegedly the target of racist fan abuse in Salt Lake City on Wednesday night
Jazz star Donovan Mitchell weighed in to say he’s had enough disruptive behavior from fans
A team spokesman addressed the incident in a statement.
‘The Utah Jazz have zero tolerance for offensive or disruptive behavior,’ the team said Thursday. ‘An incident occurred last night involving a verbal altercation during Game 2. Arena security staff intervened, and the investigation resulted in the removal and banning of three Jazz fans indefinitely. We apologize to all who were impacted by this unfortunate incident and condemn unacceptable fan behavior.’
Jazz owner Ryan Smith later tweeted that he was ’embarrassed’ by what happened.
Morant dropped 47 points in a losing effort against the Jazz in Salt Lake City
‘Memphis Grizzlies and Morant family… we are embarrassed and sorry,’ he wrote. ‘The @UtahJazz have zero tolerance for offensive behavior. We are committed to creating a respectful, competitive environment.’
Jazz star Donovan Mitchell weighed in on Thursday, saying he was happy to see the team’s response.
‘I’m glad those fans were banned and they should never be allowed back,’ Mitchell wrote. ‘this is ridiculous!!! The fact that these words are being thrown around to players and there families is ridiculous! Enough is enough smh!’
The National Basketball Players Association said ‘true fans … honor and respect the dignity of our players. No true fan would seek to harm them or violate their personal space.’ And the NBA said its rules on fan behavior will be ‘vigorously enforced in order to ensure a safe and respectful environment for all involved.’
‘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 buildings are welcoming their largest crowds of the season for the playoffs, after a regular season where attendance was severely limited because of policies put in place to keep players and others safe during the pandemic.
It has not been without problems, and players are again airing concerns about behavior.
One major hotspot for problematic fan behavior has been Madison Square Garden, where New York Knicks supporters have taken aim at Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young (right) in their first-round series. After Young beat the Knicks with a last-second shot in Game 1, the crowd showered the budding NBA star with profane chants and even remarked on his thinning hair: ‘Trae is balding!’ At one point, a fan appears to have spit at Young as he was making an inbounds pass, but it’s not entirely clear if it was intentional or not. The identity of the fan could not be determined from TNT’s camera angle
The New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers each banned one spectator from their respective arenas and issued apologies Thursday for incidents during playoff games. The NBA later said that rules surrounding fan behavior will be ‘vigorously enforced’ going forward.
All of the took place during playoff games Wednesday.
The Knicks said they banned a fan from Madison Square Garden for spitting on Atlanta guard Trae Young, while the 76ers banned a fan who threw popcorn on Washington guard Russell Westbrook.
Ray Young, Trae’s father, commended the NBA, the players’ union and the Knicks their response after a fan spit at his son at MSG
The 76ers went even further than the Knicks could, because the fan involved in the Westbrook incident was a season-ticket holder. Those tickets have been revoked, and he was banned from all events at their arena.
None of the three teams released the names of the fans who were involved. The Knicks said they forwarded information to authorities.
‘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.’
Video showed that someone spit on Young while he was preparing to inbound the basketball in the fourth quarter of New York’s win over Atlanta at Madison Square Garden. Young did not mention it in his postgame interviews and McMillan said he was unaware of the incident until Thursday morning.
Young was the subject of profane chants from some fans in that arena throughout the first two games of the series; the Hawks’ guard taunted them right back after his shot with less than a second left gave Atlanta a win in Game 1. Even New York Mayor Bill di Blasio weighed in this week on Young’s penchant for trying to draw fouls, both in a news conference and on his office’s Twitter page.
‘There’s obviously a line,’ Brooklyn forward Blake Griffin said Thursday. ‘I think what happened to Russ is obviously far behind that line.’
An irate Russell Westbrook needed to be restrained on Wednesday night in Philadelphia after a unruly 76ers fan poured popcorn on the Washington Wizards guard as he walked towards the locker room after suffering an injury in Game 2 of their ongoing first-round playoff series
It did not take long for Wells Fargo Center security to identify the fan who tossed the popcorn
The 76ers fan was ejected after he was caught throwing popcorn on Russell Westbrook
Westbrook was leaving the Wizards’ game in Philadelphia with an ankle injury when someone sitting over the tunnel that leads from the floor threw the popcorn on him.
‘We apologize to Russell Westbrook and the Washington Wizards for being subjected to this type of unacceptable and disrespectful behavior,’ the 76ers said in a statement announcing the ban. ‘There is no place for it in our sport or arena.’
‘I’m sick and tired of it, honestly,’ Westbrook said.
He’s not alone. Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James – who chimed in on Twitter shortly after the Westbrook incident Wednesday – has said in the past that fan behavior is an issue, and clearly still does.
Brooklyn guard Kyrie Irving – in advance of Game 3 of the Nets’ series at Boston – said he hoped the scene there on Friday night ‘is strictly basketball, there’s no belligerence or any racism going on, subtle racism, people yelling (expletive) from the crowd.’
LeBron James weighed in on Twitter, arguing that arenas need to do more to protect players
Westbrook had just suffered an ankle injury before making his way off the court in Philadelphia
Valerie Camillo, the president of Business Operations for the Wells Fargo Center, called the incident ‘classless, unacceptable behavior,’ adding that the arena would not tolerate it
‘We go into a hostile environment and we welcome it, we enjoy it, we want the vitriol – as long as it’s not over the line,’ Brooklyn coach Steve Nash said. ‘We want to face some adversity. That noise and that energy coming from the opposing fans is something that can spur your team on, a challenge to help you lock in and be more focused.’
Westbrook has been part of high-profile incidents involving fans before, including one where a fan in Utah was alleged to have directed racial taunts his way. The fan was banned by the Jazz and Westbrook was fined $25,000 for his reactions to that incident, one in which Mitchell even came to his defense.
‘These arenas, they’ve got to start protecting the players. We’ll 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.’
After the Westbrook incident in Utah two years ago, the league changed and toughened its code of conduct for fans, including putting those in closest proximity to the players and the court on alert that anything over the line will lead to ejections and possibly more.
Trae Young’s father Ray called for the NBA to get disruptive crowd behavior under control