Apparently, not every hoops fan recognizes basketball royalty.
That seemed to be the case during the inaugural day of Ice Cube’s much-ballyhooed BIG3 tournament last Sunday, when Julius Erving, coach of Tri-State squad that also plays in the league, was nonchalantly asked by a group of ticket-holders to get off their seats, as the legendary baller was occupying one of their spaces.
Redditor copyrapper has the complete lowdown of what transpired:
Dr J, one of the best players to have ever played the game, the man whose name is hanging up in Barclay's rafters, was sitting in the crowd during game 1. Just chilling, watching the action, enjoying a soda. Three paid ticket holders show up late, walk down to where Dr J is sitting, unfazed they ask him to move because he's in their seat. THEY HAD NO CLUE WHO THE MAN WAS. Dr J took one last sip of his soda and gladly moved over a few seats. Then before game 2 when he was announced as coach and the place went nuts, those 3 people lost their minds.
The story might appear to be apocryphal to some but if anything, you could find a link to a photo posted by Reddit user DatWerkk on the same thread reportedly showing Dr. J consuming a soda while sitting in the stands.
Erving, who was enshrined into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993, is one of the most popular players to ever set foot on the hardwood, which makes it a bit surprising that some people fail to identify him. To his credit, Dr. J handled the situation very well, conducting himself with the same coolness that was definitive of his on-court exploits during his heyday.
As for the fans, we could consider them lucky that it wasn’t someone like a Charles Oakley or a Dennis Rodman that they came across. Otherwise, they would’ve needed a real doctor.
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