The NBA Won’t Take Action Against Russell Westbrook For Shoving A Fan

The Thunder and Nuggets played a barn-burner of a game on Thursday night. And in more ways than one, it ended with quite a bit of pomp and circumstance. After trailing by 15 heading into the fourth quarter, Oklahoma City was able to storm all the way back and tie the game at 124-124 on a Paul George three-pointer with just 1.4 seconds remaining.

But on the ensuing play, Gary Harris proceeded to drain a long three of his own to give Denver a huge win. In the immediate aftermath, Russell Westbrook got into a brief altercation with a fan who wandered onto the court and appeared to yell in his face.

Westbrook then shoved the man out of the way before arena personnel stepped in and escorted him out of the building. There was plenty of speculation about how the league might handle the situation and whether there would be any disciplinary action handed down to Westbrook, but that was quickly quashed on Friday.

Via Royce Young of ESPN.com:

The NBA reviewed the incident but ultimately decided against punishment for Westbrook, as there was no aggression or engagement from the reigning MVP toward the fan. Unlike other player/fan interactions that have produced fines — like Stephen Curry throwing his mouthpiece into the crowd or Rodney Hood knocking a phone out of a fan’s hand while exiting the court — Westbrook didn’t step outside the playing floor to interact with the fan.

That last part is key. The NBA has rightly taken a zero-tolerance approach to hostile interactions with fans since the Palace Brawl but in this case apparently determined that Westbrook’s reaction was justified given that the fan was not permitted to be on the court.

Beyond that, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported that, in addition to being banned from the arena for an undetermined period of time, local police could take additional action against the fan in question.

Westbrook and the Thunder will be back at home on Friday night to host the Pelicans.