Washington Wizards star Russell Westbrook made headlines on Wednesday for all the wrong reasons. It was not of his own doing though, as the former MVP was actually the victim of some disgustingly rude Philadelphia 76ers fans who decided to throw popcorn all over Westbrook as he was exiting the playing court.
This is not the first time Russ has had an ugly encounter with opposing fans. On Tuesday, a Utah judge dismissed a $100 million lawsuit filed against Westbrook for an incident dating back from 2019. This report comes via NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (h/t Madeline Coleman of SI.com):
A Utah judge tossed out a $100M suit against Russell Westbrook and the Utah Jazz filed by two fans banned from Jazz games after taunts toward Westbrook in a March 2019 game, per court documents. Shane Keisel and Jennifer Huff claimed defamation and infliction of emotional stress.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 27, 2021
In 2019, then as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Westbrook had an infamous bust-up against a couple of Utah Jazz fans wherein lines were crossed. The two Jazz fans that were involved decided to file a lawsuit against Westbrook after the incident, citing defamation and infliction of emotional distress. The Jazz were also named in the suit after the organization decided to ban both fans from home games.
During the incident, Westbrook was caught on film telling the fans, “I'll f*** you up.” The NBA slapped him with a hefty $25,000 fine for his untoward actions.
This is a huge win for Westbrook who is once again in the middle of a controversy involving fans following Wednesday's incident in Philly. Russell Westbrook is clearly not the most well-loved personality in the NBA — for opposing fans at least — but you can't deny that this man deserves much more respect than he's being given.
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