'He hit me': Russell Westbrook speaks out after young fan shoves him
Russell Westbrook spoke out about fan behavior after he was struck by a young fan during the Thunder's game against the Nuggets on Tuesday night, a game the Thunder lost 121-112.
The incident occurred with three minutes remaining during the third quarter. Westbrook was handling the ball when the whistle blew, and a young fan sitting courtside reached out and pushed him.
Westbrook reacted calmly, pausing to speak with the young fan and his father after the incident. The adults with the boy were seen smiling after the conversation, which would suggest that Westbrook kept a decent sense of humor about the whole thing.
After the game, Westbrook spoke out, saying that "there's too much leeway for the fans to be able to touch the players and get away with it." He also revealed what he said to the young fan and his father.
"He hit me," Westbrook said, "So I told his dad, 'be careful, man, you can't have your son just hitting random people. I don't know him, he don't know me. So, just letting him know, 'You've just got to control your kids.'"
At the end of the conversation, Westbrook gave the young fan a reassuring pat on the leg. Westbrook said at first he didn't know who had touched him. He just felt contact.
"For all fans though, there's too much leeway for the fans to be able to touch the players and get away with it, and then you can't react and do the things that we need to do to protect ourselves. … But I can't do nothing. What am I going to do, hop in the stands? But there has to be some type of rule or some type of boundaries set that you can't allow that."
Here is video of him talking with press:
Westbrook is of course right, and behaved admirably when he felt contact from behind him. It was a young kid making a silly mistake, and his parents will no doubt nip that in the bud. (One would sort of have to think.)
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But the NBA should be concerned about the behavior of fans that close to players, and make sure that they don't have repeats of other horrifying incidents of fans interacting with players like they have in the past.