We’re a few days removed from an NBA brawl, one that saw the years-long beef between Chris Paul and Rajon Rondo go from a general dislike for one another to punches being thrown mid-game. Naturally, whenever an NBA fight happens — especially one that includes people throwing haymakers — the infamous Malice at the Palace involving the Indiana Pacers and fans and players of the Detroit Pistons in 2004 gets brought up.
While all of the NBA players who were suspended for their roles in the altercation have since retired, we learned on Wednesday that one NBA player was able to skirt punishment from the league. That’s because the player in question, Josh Jackson, was an 8-year-old fan who just happened to be in attendance.
Jackson, who grew up in Detroit and is a Pistons fan, is doing a diary this season through The Undefeated, and in his most recent edition, the Phoenix Suns’ second-year forward explained how he got involved in the fracas … kind of.
“I was looking around and everyone was throwing something onto the court,” Jackson wrote. “I am not going to lie. I threw a water bottle. Why? It’s my home team. I’m a Pistons fan. What? The Pacers came in here throwing punches on my favorite players. I couldn’t have that. But that is neither here nor there.”
Now, obviously, Jackson probably shouldn’t have done that. But he was eight, and on the list of things that the NBA had to worry about that day, a child throwing a water bottle at someone was probably relatively low on the list. So, uh, yeah, if you’re a child reading this, don’t throw water bottles at professional athletes. Or anyone, really.
