Draymond Green criticizes NBA for handling of fan-player exchanges
Russell Westrbook’s incident with a fan in Utah earlier this week has been a major topic of discussion around the NBA, and Draymond Green has an issue with the way the league handled it.
While speaking with reporters on Friday, Green said he feels the NBA should stop fining players for defending themselves when they’re “completely disrespected.” He believes that encourages fans to heckle players knowing a response will result in disciplinary action.
In light of Russell Westbrook’s incident with fan in Utah, Draymond said he has experienced plenty of instances of fans crossing the line with him pic.twitter.com/ws2JBTOfuY
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) March 15, 2019
“If I’m someone who’s not happy with my life and I’ve got an opportunity where I’m going to someone else’s place of employment and I know if I say something to them and they say something back, they lose money — misery loves company,” Green said.”
“The (more) our penalties are raised and blasted to the world, people are gonna keep doing that. At the end of the day, what do they really lose? Our families lose money that we provide.”
Westbrook was fined $25,000 for threatening a Jazz fan and his wife Monday night, and the fan was permanently banned from Vivint Arena. The Jazz later banned a second fan stemming from a separate incident with Westbrook during a playoff game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Jazz in Utah last year.
While you can’t blame Westbrook for being upset over Monday’s incident, the NBA simply can’t allow players to physically threaten fans. Despite what Green may think, that does nothing to deescalate the situation.
