Most athletes consider the heckling they hear from opponents to be annoying, but overall everyone knows it’s part of the game. As a professional athlete, you expect to be harassed and berated by opposing fans. When your own team’s owner starts to do it, however, it can be tough to handle. Considering Clippers owner Donald Sterling used to give him an earful as he was dribbling the ball up the court, Baron Davis knows how difficult it can be. In fact, the Knicks guard calls it one of the low points of his career.
“I just stopped liking basketball,” Davis said when discussing some of the tougher years of his career with the NY Post. “And then you’re dribbling down the court and having the owner like cuss at you and call you an idiot. I didn’t even look forward to coming to the games, and if the owner (Donald Sterling) came to the game, I definitely was not gonna have a good game because it was just like, how do you play when the main heckler in the gym is the owner of the team, and he’s telling you how much he hates you and calling out your name?”
When the story of Sterling taunting his own players broke a little over a year ago, Davis simply said he was “fighting unnecessary battles.” He was a Clipper then. Baron is a Knick now, and even though he was hoping to lead their back court before Linsanity came along I’m sure he’s glad to be away from one of the most idiotic owners in sports.
H/T I Am a GM
Photo via the SI Vault
