A Boston Celtics fan will face a ban for yelling racial slurs at Golden State Warriors center DeMarcus Cousins when the Warriors visited TD Garden for a January matchup earlier in the season.
According to Yahoo’s Chris Haynes, the fan will be banned from Celtics events for two years.
Yahoo Sources: A fan in Boston banned two years for muttering n***** at DeMarcus Cousins during Golden State’s only visit to TD Garden. More details in video link provided. https://t.co/xWpgFu0amH pic.twitter.com/JbtFOt3scZ
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) March 29, 2019
Unfortunately, this is a gravely concerning matter that is only becoming more relevant as the season goes on and DeMarcus Cousins is only the latest victim to speak out about this. Fans have seemingly become increasingly hostile towards players mid-game, a scary trend that needs to be alleviated before tempers inevitably boil over.
We’ve already seen Russell Westbrook recently get into it with a fan who also made racially derogatory remarks during a game in Utah. While Westbrook was fined $25,000 for the exchange, the fan was also hammered with a lifetime ban from all Jazz events.
Cousins discussing his experience with crowds across the NBA is only the latest example of fans in attendance overstepping their boundaries. As professionals, it’s the right of the NBA players to be able to perform their jobs on a nightly-basis without having to face derogatory interference from the fans.
We’ve seen things escalate between a fan and an NBA player before in the past, but tensions seem to be considerably high right now. Hopefully, the rest of the NBA season goes by without any more incidents and the league office looks at options it may have to limit the negative impact some fans have on a game during the offseason.
