Donovan Mitchell, More Defend Russell Westbrook After Shane Keisel Fan Incident
Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell released a statement supporting Russell Westbrook after the star point guard said a Jazz fan used derogatory language to harass him during Monday night's game between the Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder:
His teammate, Thabo Sefolosha, also supported Westbrook on Instagram.
"I stand 100 percent with Russell Westbrook on what happened in yesterday's game," Sefolosha wrote. "I love our fans but there are limits that can not be crossed! Support and cheer for your team and enjoy the action but fans like Shane Keisel, who use that platform to spur their hateful and racist views need to be held accountable."
Westbrook said after the game that Keisel and his wife told him to "get down on your knees like you're used to," remarks that he took to be racist, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com.
Per that report, Westbrook responded angrily after Keisel made those remarks, threatening him:
"'I'm going to tell you one thing: I'll f--- him up if he says that s--- again. I promise you,' Westbrook said to a security guard behind the bench at the beginning of the video posted to Twitter. Westbrook then looks toward Keisel. 'I promise you. You think I'm playing. I swear to God, I swear to God, I'll f--- you up. You and your wife, I'll f--- you up.
"'I promise you, on everything I love. On everything I love, n----, I promise you.'"
Keisel told ESPN that he made no inappropriate comments to Westbrook. But Westbrook's teammate, Raymond Felton, confirmed his side of the story:
"I get it, sometimes some words are wrong, some things you say are wrong. I'm not taking that away, I'm not saying that. All I'm saying is, when is it going to be about protecting us as players? That's just not right for Russ to have to deal with that when they said something to him first and they said something totally disrespectful. I heard it. I'm standing right there. I heard it. That's not right. That's all I'm saying. That's not right."
Westbrook has also said in the past the fans in Utah have crossed the line while heckling him on the court:
Mitchell, Sefolosha and Felton weren't the only NBA players to support Westbrook.
"I really can't speak on it too much, because I don't know exactly what happened," San Antonio Spurs star DeMar DeRozan said Tuesday, per Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News. "Knowing Russ personally, there's a good reason he went off the way he did. He just wouldn't do it for nothing. But I don't know exactly what was said."
"It's always that one fan that takes it a little too far, feels like they're entitled to say whatever," he added. "There's things I've heard [said] to other players that wasn't right. It can happen anywhere."
