Russell Westbrook has had more than his fair share of heated exchanges with fans at NBA games over the years, and he had another one in Minnesota on Sunday night. During warmups, Westbrook told a heckling fan to come down to the court and talk to his face, which the individual surprisingly did.
Russell Westbrook : "What you say?"
Fan: "You stink."
Russell Westbrook: "At what?"
Fan: "Basketball."
You have to start to listen closely at the 12-second mark to get what the fan said at that moment. The individual did seem a bit fazed but stood his ground and told Westbrook to his face that he stinks at basketball.
I'll give him credit for not buckling, but you'd wish no player, let alone someone who has accomplished as much as Westbrook, had to deal with such things. The nine-time All-Star certainly showed that he didn't stink at basketball when the action commenced.
Westbrook had 12 points, 8 rebounds, 13 assists, and 2 steals in the contest for the Los Angeles Clippers. It wasn't enough to get the win, however, as the Minnesota Timberwolves won 109-105. The 35-year-old also ended up having a rather embarrassing moment at the end of the game, as he missed an open layup.
Russell Westbrook Said He Won't Allow Fans To Disrespect Him
Players are subjected to an awful lot of verbal abuse from fans at arenas, and most of them simply choose to ignore it. Westbrook, however, is well past that point now, as we saw here. Earlier this season, Westbrook got into a heated exchange with a Clippers fan and later stated he wouldn't allow these moments anymore.
"I mean it's unfortunate. Fans think they can say whatever they want. I'm not going to say now because it's not appropriate, but I'm just protecting myself.
"Now having kids and understanding how important it is, not just myself but my last name... It's very important. It's something I stand on and the respect is a big thing that I value."
"So the moment that line gets crossed, I won't allow it no more. I've stood for it for years and now my son is old enough to know what's going on, asking me, 'Hey Dad, what does that mean? What's that?' Now I got to stand on it and regardless of where I'm at, what's going on, I'm always standing on that."
It's easy for people to say he should look past it but there comes a point in your life when you've had enough. I think that happened with Westbrook a while back, and he no longer even hesitates to get into back-and-forths with disrespectful fans.
During the playoffs last season, Westbrook said 'Watch your mouth, motherf***er' to a Phoenix Suns fan, who had presumably made a disrespectful comment. He also doesn't hesitate to ask for fans to be kicked out of the arena.
Last year in March, Westbrook got a fan ejected for taunting him with the 'Rock the Baby' celebration. Just a few nights prior to that, Westbrook kicked two fans out of the arena in Sacramento.
I'd like to think that anyone who has followed the NBA in recent years would know by now that Westbrook would go to these lengths if he feels a fan crossed the line. It still hasn't stopped people from going at him, though, which is unfortunate.
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