Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook is calling for more restrictions from fans after an incident with a child Tuesday night at the Pepsi Center in Denver.
During the third quarter, Westbrook fell slightly out of bounds near some fans sitting courtside. The young fan then touched Westbrook as he was walking to the other side of the court. Westbrook stopped to give the child, and his father, a small lecture and then offered a reassuring pat to the fan.
Afterward, Westbrook said he couldn’t initially tell that it was a kid that touched him. Regardless of who it was, Westbrook says there needs to be more protection for players, according to Maddie Lee of The Oklahoman.
He hit me 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. Just let him know, ‘You just gotta control your kids.’ It’s that simple. He’s responsible for his kid to watch the game and sit there, have fun and enjoy.
For all of the fans, though, there’s too much leeway for fans to be able to touch the players and get away with it and we can’t react and do the things that we need to do to protect ourselves. It’s important that they understand that kids — whoever it is — can say what they want as long as it is respectful. But the touching, to me, is off limits.
The young fan likely didn’t know what they did was wrong and that responsibility falls onto the parent, as Westbrook said. Given the nature of the incident, Westbrook handled it about as well as you would have wanted and it provided for a teaching moment for fans across the league.
The incident on Tuesday night was an isolated incident as there haven’t been too many moments like that in recent memory. Players are typically appreciative of fans, especially those that spend a substantial amount of money to sit that close but there are limits to how close they can get and what they can do.
With Westbrook addressing the issue Tuesday night, the incident can serve as a reminder to fans that touching a player is not allowed and should not happen in the future.
