Former NBA champion Vernon Maxwell dislikes Utah, and he's not hiding that fact if you follow him on social media. With that said, it certainly didn't come as a surprise when he shaded the state during his visit to Salt Lake City for the NBA All-Star Weekend.
In an interview with ClutchPoints, Maxwell questioned the NBA's choice to hold the 2023 NBA All-Star Weekend in Utah. He noted that aside from the cold weather, there isn't really a huge fanbase considering how easy it is to move downtown. He described the whole choice as “weird.”
“I don't even know what we're doing here. I mean what are we doing in Utah? I mean for real NBA … man for real now. Cleveland? Then here? … It's cold as hell first of all, and it's the only All-Star Game that you can move around downtown ain't no damn traffic. I mean this s**t is weird,” Maxwell said.
“But I had to be out here, so I'm out here and I'm gonna make the best of this S**t.”
While Vernon Maxwell didn't mention the racist reputation of some Utah fans in the said interview, it clearly has a big role why he doesn't like the state at all. In a separate talk with the Salt Lake Tribune during the NBA All-Star Weekend, he shared his experience playing in the city and how he was treated and hit with the N-word multiple times.
“This goes way back to when I played here. When I used to come here and play — I mean, I don’t care what team I played with — I was gonna get abused with the N-word,” Maxwell shared.
“And I used to tell your — God bless him — I told your owner [Larry H. Miller] at halftime, ‘Hey, the fans over here, they’re racist; they’re over here calling me the N-word.' And nobody ever would do anything or say anything. They used to talk about my mom, they used to talk about my kids, they used to talk about my pops — which, I don’t even care about talking about him; I don't deal with his a** anyway. But I’m just saying, it was just abusive. And when I got a platform that I could say what I wanted to say … I try to roast Utah as much as I can. Because of that.”
Clearly, Maxwell won't be stopping any time soon in expressing his dislike for Utah.