When fans first saw footage of Trail Blazers’ center Jusuf Nurkic throwing a courtside spectator’s cell phone during a loss to the Pacers Sunday, there were strong reactions from both sides. Those who anoint fans the ruler of all reactions on the court said Nurkic was out of line to confront a fan so closely (apparently the NBA thought the same and smacked him with a $40K fine). There were others that wondered what the fan had said to provoke the center’s actions. It must have been something personal.
If you were in the later group, congratulations. It was personal, and despicable.
According to Yahoo! Sports Chris Haynes, “The fan who Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic confronted in Indiana allegedly shouted ‘your mom is trash’ and said his ‘grandma’s a b**tch…'” Noting, “Nurkic’s grandma passed away of COVID-19 in 2020.” Say what you want about Nurkic’s inability to play defense in key moments of games. Talk about his inability to stay on court because of injuries. Call him soft. But under no circumstance, should a fan talk about a player’s family.
That is crossing a red line the NBA front office, and fans, don’t want to venture over. These type of actions are what leads to the infamous 2004 “Malice at The Palace”. When fans decide to disrespect players and think of them as essentially jesters, not human beings, they strip these talented men of their dignity. No one deserves treatment like that, not even the fans spewing that kind of hate.
Hopefully this will serve as yet another warning to fans that interaction with players needs to be good natured and fun. Sure, you can trash talk about their game and record. But the minute you get personal is the minute all bets are off.