Warriors and their fans have been part of NBA’s fans vs. players problem

As disappointing and sickening as it was Wednesday night to see one NBA fan in Philadelphia dump popcorn on an injured Russell Westbrook and another in New York spit on Trae Young, it’s hardly shocking. Sadly, this kind of behavior from uncontrollable fans has become even more prevalent in recent years.

The bigger the game, the more emboldened the fans become, it seems. Anyone who watched Warriors games with any regularity during their recent dynasty can attest to that.

But remembering how unruly fans treated Draymond Green, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry — and sometimes how they, in turn, treated some fans — doesn’t make it any easier to see a hobbling, dejected Westbrook getting dumped on, or an unsuspecting Young becoming an expectorating target.

Russ got heated after a fan threw popcorn at him pic.twitter.com/XyMRUxUVwc

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 27, 2021

It’s at least a vile reminder that fans and players at NBA games are literally too close for comfort.

“A guy wouldn’t come up on the street and pour popcorn on my head because he knows what would happen,” Westbrook told reporters after Washington’s 120-95 playoff loss in Philadelphia.

The 76ers said they’ve revoked the accused fan’s season tickets and have banned him from their arena “indefinitely.” Similarly, the Knicks have identified the person who spat on the Hawks’ Young and have banned the fan from Madison Square Garden indefinitely.

Everyone is talking about the Sixers fan dumping popcorn on Westbrook, but let’s not ignore the Knicks fan spitting on Trae Young pic.twitter.com/HWioRIs8Al

— Guru (@DrGuru_) May 27, 2021

Westbrook implored the NBA to “start protecting the players,” though he didn’t sound overly confident it would happen, saying, “We’ll see what the NBA does.”

A lot of “fans” keep crossing the line. That’s what happens when they’ve been enabled for years. For years they’ve come in these arenas and shouted whatever they’ve wanted to the players. The very moment players has responded…. Well, we all know how it’s ended for the us Smh

— Draymond Green (@Money23Green) May 27, 2021

The fan banishments notwithstanding, there doesn’t seem to be a tangible plan to break a pattern we’ve seen first-hand in the Bay Area.

The Warriors have been involved in a litany of incidents when fans — sometimes including their own — have crossed the line. In turn, there have also been incidents where players were the aggressors toward fans.

Here, in no particular order, is a look at nine occasions when things got ugly between the Warriors and some fans, or Warriors fans and some players:

Warriors investor shoves Raptors star in NBA Finals

One of the more embarrassing incidents for the Warriors came during Game 3 of the 2019 NBA Finals when one of their investors shoved Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry, who had leaped into the crowd while he was chasing the ball.

Mark Stevens, who was an investor and a member of the Warriors’ executive board, repeatedly pushed Lowry after the player landed near his courtside seat.

“There’s no place for that,” Lowry told reporters after the game. “He had no reason to touch me. He had no reason to reach over two seats and then say some vulgar language to me. There’s no place for people like that in our league, and hopefully he never comes back to an NBA game.”

Stevens wound up being banned from NBA arenas for a year and was fined $500,000 for his action.

Warriors fan hurls expletives at LeBron James

A female Warriors fan verbally accosted LeBron James as he walked off the court at Oracle Arena after his Cavaliers won Game 2 of the 2015 NBA Finals. Decorum prohibits us from repeating her taunts, but they were shocking enough that James stopped and glared at the woman, who was standing nearby.

An Oracle security guard did step forward and demand that she stop, twice instructing her, “Hey, watch your mouth, woman!” The woman, though, told the guard, “I can’t hear you, sorry.”

(Here’s a link to the video, which is highly unsuitable for most ears).

Milwaukee fan calls Klay Thompson a derogatory name

A mouthy Milwaukee fan directed an expletive toward Klay Thompson when the Warriors star fell down while getting fouled in a 2017 game. Thompson told ESPN the fan called him a five-letter word starting with “b.” Klay said “it was just unnecessary.”

The Bucks’ security team agreed and immediately ejected the fan from his seat behind the basket.

Curry confronts mouthy fan in Denver

It takes a lot to agitate Steph Curry, but one unruly fan in Denver back in 2013 managed to set him off. Curry and the Warriors were leaving the court in Denver after a disappointing Game 5 playoff loss to the Nuggets, when their star stopped to confront a man who’d been yelling at him from the stands.

Curry briefly summed it all up after the game, telling reporters, “Somebody said something dumb and I just told him to be quiet, that was it.”

Warriors fan cusses in Bradley Beal’s face

After getting in a fight with Draymond Green and getting ejected in a 2017 game at Oracle, Washington’s Bradley Beal was confronted by a fan on his way to the locker room.

After being ejected, Bradley Beal gets into verbal confrontation with fan pic.twitter.com/OzUG1eHiEz

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) October 28, 2017

The fan yelled an expletive at Beal, who, to his credit, smiled and kept on walking.

Steph throws his mouthpiece at a fan

Steph Curry went out of character during a frustrating loss to the Cavaliers in Game 6 of the NBA Finals in Cleveland, angrily firing his mouthpiece after fouling out. The mouthpiece hit one fan sitting courtside, who immediately complained about it.

Curry, who was ejected for the first time in his career for his outburst, quickly came over to tell the man he was sorry, and then headed to the locker room.

“Definitely didn’t mean to throw it at a fan. But it happened and I went over and apologized to him.”

Draymond Green puts T’Wolves fan in his place

Draymond Green reached a boiling point during the Warriors’ abysmal season last year while getting blown out by the Timberwolves in Minnesota. Green responded to some constant chiding by one particular T’Wolves fan by ripping the fan during the game of also-rans.

Draymond vs. a Timberwolves fan sitting courtside pic.twitter.com/w7frzumXSu

— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) January 3, 2020

“You paid $500 for these weak ass courtside seats for this, shut up,” Green yelled at the fan.

Blake Griffin “cools off” fired-up Warriors fan

After fouling out of a 2014 playoff game against the Warriors in Los Angeles, the Clippers’ Blake Griffin endured the taunts of some Golden State fans sitting behind his team’s bench. Griffin showed off his acting chops by “pretending” to accidentally spill water on one of the mouthy Warriors fans.

“I heard him say something, but I didn’t know exactly what I did,” Griffin said during a postgame interview. “But if I did (spill water on the fan), I apologize.”

Griffin then deadpanned, “It’s water, you know.”

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Chris Webber’s ugly return to Oakland

Chris Webber, who forced the Warriors to trade him after a Rookie of the Year season because of a rift with coach Don Nelson, was the target of constant boos and taunts when he visited Oakland as a visiting player for the first time in 1994.

It was bad enough Webber’s Washington team was beaten badly that night, but he also suffered a dislocated shoulder during the game. After briefly going silent, the crowd resumed mercilessly booing Webber when he returned to the Washington bench wearing a sling on his shoulder.

An angry Webber told reporters how disappointed he was at the treatment he received that night.

“There were kids in the stands sitting there watching their parents booing someone who’d just been hurt,” Webber said. “Maybe athletes do need to be role models.”

Webber then added, “I expected the booing. It shows you that people only love you because of the team you’re playing for.”

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