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The NBA's latest player-fan incident came courtesy Jusuf Nurkic having a heated exchange with an Indiana Pacers fan. The episode occurred when the Portland Trail Blazers visited Indiana on Sunday. The visitors suffered a blowout 98-129 loss at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, with Nurkic sitting out the game as he recovers from plantar fasciitis in his left foot.
However, soon after the final buzzer sounded, Jusuf Nurkic made his way over to a group of Pacers fans sitting courtside. He stared one of them down, exchanged a few words with the fan, grabbed his phone and tossed it away. The Blazers man then walked off without saying anything.
At this point, it is unclear what triggered the extreme reaction from the Portland star, but it appears that 'The Bosnian Bear' may have been unhappy with what the fan or group of fans may have been saying to him or to the Portland team.
Jusuf Nurkic-fan episode latest in series of fan incidents this season in the NBA
The exchange between Jusuf Nurkic and the Pacers' fan on Sunday is just the latest in what has been a series of exchanges between NBA players and team loyalists this season. A number of players have taken offense to what has been said to them during the course of a game or outside the arena.
Russell Westbrook, who is enduring the worst season of his 14-year NBA career, has had on-and-off the court episodes with fans. The latest incident involving Westbrook occurred in Toronto where a man on the street asked the LA Lakers star to "stop playing like s**t".
Former Russell Westbrook teammate and two-time Finals MVP Kevin Durant was fined USD 25000 for cussing out a fan during a game between the Brooklyn Nets and the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday last week. Durant asked the fan to "shut the f**k up and sit down" as a result of which he was fined.
Earlier this year, in January, Carmelo Anthony had two fans ejected from an NBA game featuring the LA Lakers and the Philadelphia 76ers. Anthony was unhappy about the fact that the fans were calling him “boy” constantly throughout the matchup. He told the media about the episode:
“It is what it is. Some things was said. Unacceptable. I'm cool with fans heckling, fans talking trash, cheering for their team, booing the other team. I'm all for that. But when you cross certain lines, as a man, that's what you're going to see. That's what you're going to get, as you saw."
