The NBA is investigating a verbal exchange between Boston Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas and a Washington Wizards fan that took place during Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals on Thursday.
A fan sitting near courtside at the Verizon Center posted video of the exchange on Instagram, which captures Thomas allegedly directing a profane remark at a spectator.
“We are aware and reviewing,” a league spokesperson told Boston.com on Tuesday.
Thomas apparently tells the fan, who is said to have been heckling the Celtics’ star guard throughout the game, “I will fuck you up and you know that.”
The Instagram user who posted the footage said the heckler was “screaming all game” at Thomas to “take his toothless ass back to Boston”.
The Celtics lost the game 116-89 and Sunday’s Game 4 to level the best-of-seven series at two games apiece ahead of Wednesday’s Game 5 at Boston’s TD Garden.
Thomas, 28, has been among the top performers in this year’s playoffs while playing through grief after the sudden death of his sister, Chyna Thomas, in a one-car crash in their home state of Washington last month.
The diminutive two-time All-Star is averaging 25.6 points in 10 postseason contests so far, including a playoff-high 53-point outburst in Game 2 of their back-and-forth semi-final series with the Wizards.
