Thunder star Russell Westbrook won't be disciplined by NBA for shoving fan
Russell Westbrook and the Thunder suffered a tough defeat to the Nuggets Thursday, but that wasn't what everybody was talking about after the game. Following the loss, a fan walked on the court and yelled in Westbrook's face. Obviously confused by the situation, Westbrook shoved the fan away as security came over to escort them out.
There was a discussion on whether Westbrook was going to be fined for the incident, but according to a report from ESPN, the NBA has no plans to fine Westbrook for the shove. The fan that got in Russ' face has also reportedly been banned from future games.
Oklahoma City Thunder star Russell Westbrook will not be disciplined by the NBA for shoving a fan at the conclusion of Thursday night's game in Denver, the league told ESPN. ... Arena security removed the fan -- a partial season-ticket holder -- from the court. A source told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne that following the incident, law enforcement issued a summons and complaint for trespass, and the fan has been banned from games. "We can confirm that the Denver Police Department was involved as well as arena security officials," the Nuggets said in a statement. "The matter has been passed on to the NBA and they will be investigating the incident further and handling the matter internally."
This was the right decision by the NBA. Westbrook did nothing wrong, and most may react similarly to someone getting in their face and yelling let alone a random fan that has no business on the court. It was right for this person to be banned from future games.
The NBA is very sensitive to incidents like this ever since the Malice at the Palace back in 2004. With fans being so close to the action in the NBA there's always a concern for an incident to break out into something far worse. Thankfully, this was nothing close to that and hopefully fans will behave themselves better in the future.