Washington Wizards guard Isaiah Thomas experienced another roadblock in his already-impressive career as he gets slapped with a two-game suspension for going into the stands and talking it out with a fan.
ClutchPoints' Tomer Azarly published a press release by the league announcing the suspension of the Wizards guard.
The NBA has suspended Wizards guard Isaiah Thomas two games for entering the stands and confronting a fan in last night's loss to the Sixers. The fan has been suspended for a year from all Wells Fargo Center events. pic.twitter.com/SBFzu0ZVhB
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) December 23, 2019
“Washington Wizards guard Isaiah Thomas has been suspended two games without pay for entering the spectator stands, it was announced today by Kiki VanDeWeghe, Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations,” the statement read.
Thomas revealed after the game that the reason for the entire debacle was a fan who yelled expletives at his direction during the Wizards' 108-125 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. He revealed the reason for his sudden confrontation with the fan who flipped him off.
Per Fred Katz of The Athletic:
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It's definitely jarring that fans would still be able to do this after the steps the league has taken in order to prevent verbal abuse reaching its players. There have been plenty of examples in recent memory of fans just abusing players, the most popular being that exchange between then-Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook and one Shane Keisel.
The Ringer' Tyler Tynes wrote an intense piece about verbal abuse in the league and presented cold, uncomfortable facts:
According to an anonymous poll conducted by The Athletic, 13.7 percent cited fan behavior as the league’s most pressing issue. Thomas wants a strictly enforced zero-tolerance policy. “You do what you get away with,” he says, adding that only through stronger enforcement will behavior begin to change. Fred VanVleet, a guard for the Toronto Raptors, says that playing under these conditions makes him feel like he’s a part of a monied spectacle.
While Thomas will be able to come back in two games' time, the league must do something about the misconducts done by fans towards their product.