- To me, the comment in question doesnt seem to justify removing a fan. It justifies arena staff telling the person to take 20% off and leave it at that.
- Luka said the fan was swearing at him the whole first half too and he ignored it for as long as he could. Take that for what its worth.
"He was cursing me the whole first half, too," said Doncic, who had 34 points, eight rebounds and nine assists in the loss, which Mavs co-star
Kyrie Irving missed due to a sprained right thumb.
Asked why he didn't ask for the fan to be ejected during the first half, Doncic said: "Because I never would eject a fan. They paid for tickets, but I had enough. It's a little bit of frustration."
I think that what is acceptable as a fan at a game has changed over the last 25 years.
- Things like a sign claiming a guy 17ed JJ Redick's teen sister, chanting at Andre Dawkins about his tragically killed sister, or mocking NC State's Tyler Lewis right after his grandmother died were common in the 00s and early 10s. Not nearly as common now.
- Malice at the Palace in '04 helped show just how entitled some fans are and the fallout from that awful incident has definitely been felt in the years since when it comes to player/fan interactions.
- Its still perfectly acceptable to yell generalizations at players- 'airball' taunt, 'sitdown!' after fouling out, booing a player when they touch the ball in the minutes after they do something controversial, etc etc.
If Luka was being sworn at for an hour during the first half, thats pretty damn lame. That shouldnt be what the NBA wants for its product as a whole or for its players.
The fan said he chose to leave and wasnt kicked out, fwiw, but either way- if security just asks the fan to take 20% off, that would hopefully be a better resolution.
Luka complaining about the fan seems fine- players complain about 17ing everything so that isnt abnormal. A fan leaving over it?...yeah thats a bit much. That only happened because its Luka that complained. If Seth Curry or Dwight Powell complained?...well wants to target them for heckling, but if they did, I doubt anything would have been done by arena staff.
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