The NBA is reviewing this exchange between Isaiah Thomas and a heckling Wizards fan
The Celtics guard reportedly hit the fan with a profane comeback.
It wouldn’t be the first time a Boston Celtics player has gotten into it with a fan this postseason.
The NBA says it’s looking into an exchange during Game 3 of the Celtics-Wizards playoff series, in which Isaiah Thomas appeared to respond to a court-side heckler at Washington’s Verizon Center with a profane comeback.
“We are aware and reviewing,” league spokesman Tim Frank told Boston.com.
Footage of the incident in question was posted online Friday night by an Instagram user and first reported on Monday night by The Big Lead.
According to the user who captured the exchange, a male heckler was “screaming all game” at Thomas to “take his toothless a– back to Boston.” Thomas, who was sitting on the bench, reportedly responded, pointing at the fan, “I will f— you up, and you know that.”
Thomas’s specific words, which appear to come after he takes out his mouthguard, are inaudible in the video.
Warning: Explicit language (maybe)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTtJgdsBt0O/
Before sitting back down on the bench, the All-Star guard can later be heard telling the fan, “Come right here and say it.”
It is unclear whether Thomas could be punished for his role in the exchange.
Fellow Celtics guard Marcus Smart was fined $25,000 during the team’s first-round playoff series for making an obscene gesture at a fan in Boston. The league also fined Houston Rockets guard Patrick Beverly the same amount for a verbal altercation with a fan after a game in Oklahoma City.
The Celtics lost Game 3 and Game 4 in Washington, leveling the series at two games a piece. Game 5 is scheduled for Wednesday night in Boston.
