NBA Will Have 'Zero Tolerance for Abusive or Hateful Behavior' from Fans

The NBA is entering the 2019-20 regular season with a no-nonsense attitude toward fans.   

"Zero tolerance for abusive or hateful behavior is to become the NBA's policy going forward," according to the Associated Press (h/t ESPN).

NBA executive vice president and chief security officer Jerome Pickett provided a statement: 

"We've added any sexist language or LGBTQ language, any denigrating language in that way, anything that is non-basketball-related. So 'your mother' comments, talking about your family, talking about test scores, anything non-basketball-related, we've added that in as well as being something that we will go and pull a fan out of the seat and investigate what happened."

The rule change follows a year in which there were multiple instances of fan misconduct around the league. Per the same report, a dozen or so players held a teleconference with NBA officials over the summer to address worsening fan behavior during games.

The executive director of the NBA Players Association, Michele Roberts, was quoted in the Associated Press story explaining she had noticed "really nasty, nasty comments being directed at players" more and more beginning last season.

Racism was cited as a contributing factor.

A prominent example came when the Oklahoma City Thunder visited the Utah Jazz in March and Russell Westbrook alleged fans racially taunted him from the crowd. The Jazz responded by assigning a lifetime ban from Vivint Smart Home Arena for the fan responsible.

It wasn't the first time Westbrook has been treated derogatorily in Utah, and both fans were banned for life:

Most recently, in the 2019 NBA Finals between the Toronto Raptors and Golden State Warriors, Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry was shoved by a fan later identified as Warriors part-owner Mark Stevens seated courtside after Lowry fell into the first row while diving for the ball. LeBron James addressed the incident passionately in an Instagram caption. Stevens was ejected from Oracle Arena,  banned from games for one year and fined $500,000.