After Madison Square Garden security investigated, the Knicks have banned a fan who spit on Hawks guard Trae Young on Wednesday night during Game 2, the team announced Thursday.
The Knicks issued an apology to Young and the Hawks and added that they have turned this information over to the “appropriate authorities.”
“We investigated the matter and determined that this patron, who is not a season ticket holder, did indeed spit on Trae Young, and for that reason, he is now banned from The Garden indefinitely,” the Knicks said in a statement. “We apologize to Trae and the entire Atlanta Hawks organization for this fan’s behavior. This was completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated in our venue. We have turned the information over to the appropriate authorities.”
Young has declined to press charges against the fan, per ESPN’s Malika Andrews.
Interim Hawks coach Nate McMillan said the incident was uncalled for, and mentioned Young was shocked by it. He also said he thinks some people feel because they’ve paid for a ticket, they feel they have a right to say or do whatever they want, but obviously that’s not the case.
“You have to draw a line,” McMillan said. “I didn’t see that, I wasn’t aware of that until really this morning. We saw video of that, and unfortunately I think we’re just living in a society where really people just don’t have respect anymore. In no way should that be allowed or should that happen at a sporting event or really any event where you are coming to watch a game and you do something like that. I think NY did what they should have done in that situation, and it’s just uncalled for and shouldn’t happen.”
The league issued this statement Thursday, following this incident and one in which a fan in Philadelphia dumped popcorn on Wizards guard Russell Westbrook (that fan received an indefinite ban from Wells Fargo Center): “The return of more NBA fans to our arenas has brought great excitement and energy to the start of the playoffs, but it is critical that we all show respect for players, officials and our fellow fans. An enhanced fan code of conduct will be vigorously enforced in order to ensure a safe and respectful environment for all involved.”
Power forward John Collins mentioned it’s hard to get this issue fully under wraps, since you can’t actively control every single fan in attendance or read minds, but said what happened was “completely unacceptable.”
“I don’t even understand,” Collins said. “You’re coming to a basketball game to watch a person play basketball, where does it come into your mind to spit at this person? How disrespectful. I could go on for days.”
Wing Kevin Huerter said the team mostly found out about this Thursday morning.
He hopes the ban for the Knicks fan and 76ers fan will last for a long time, if not forever, so it sets a strong precedent.
“What happened with Trae, what happened with Russell Westbrook, fans are passionate but there’s no place for any of that,” Huerter said. “The response by the Knicks for banning him, I hope that lasts a long time, if not forever, same with the fan in (Philadelphia). ... If you lay a pretty heavy precedent and you ban these people for life from these arenas, I would hope people think twice about trying to do that. … If they’re going to throw something, if they’re going to spit something, they don’t deserve to go to an NBA game again.”
