Friday night’s game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Phoenix Suns was a bizarre one, and Lakers guard Rajon Rondo added to the bedlam.
During a stoppage in play in the third quarter, Rondo went up to a fan sitting courtside and pointed his fingers right in the fan’s face, doing a mock gun-shooting motion. The fan responded by smacking Rondo’s hand away and was promptly ejected by security at Staples Center. Have a look.
Rondo & a fan 💀💀 pic.twitter.com/UptYbNCaA5
— GD's Highlights (@gdfactoryclips) October 23, 2021
The Lakers were getting blown out by the Suns at the time to bring them to their second straight loss to start the new NBA season. Lakers teammates Anthony Davis and Dwight Howard also had an altercation of their own in the first half of the game (video here).
It is unclear what, if anything, the fan said to Rondo to trigger the exchange. While there will obviously be zero tolerance whatsoever for a fan touching a player, Rondo certainly seemed to provoke the smack by getting in the fan’s face with the gun gesture. In any case, Friday night’s incident brought to mind a similar episode in Golden State from a couple of years ago.
