On Monday evening, Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook was heckled by a fan of the Utah Jazz while this fan allegedly shouted inappropriate language toward the All-Star signal caller.
As a result of the situation, Westbrook was fined by the league with the fan being banned from Jazz home games.
With many coming to the defense of Westbrook, Los Angeles Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma added his two cents regarding the matter as well.
“I've never had nothing crazy [directed towards me],” Kuzma told Dave McMenamin of ESPN on Tuesday. “Of course people always say ignorant things but, for me, no. I've never really had issues with fans or anybody in my time in the league.”
Even so, Kuzma does not think that players should fear for their safety going forward and does not feel unsafe on the court.
“I feel safe [on the bench],” he said. “I don't ever think a fan is going to run up and sock me in the face … But, it's kind of tough, the world that we live in today that some players don't feel as safe physically or mentally, especially in Russ's case [from Monday].”
Kuzma also got into the specifics surrounding Jazz fans as Westbrook has had altercations while in Utah before.
“I'm not going to call Utah a racist state, but there is racism everywhere in this country and it kind of just shows where we are as a society what we still have to go through and players have to hear derogatory things about their ethnicity and whatnot. It's very saddening,” Kuzma told ESPN.”
In the end, Westbrook was fined $25,000 for his role while this topic will remain the talk of the league for the foreseeable future due to its inappropriate nature.
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