A’ja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces didn’t exactly handle the Indiana Fever’s crowd well in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
Wilson got into a heated altercation with a Fever fan with 4:10 remaining in the fourth quarter of Tuesday night’s game. The four-time MVP received a technical foul for her antics, whereas the fan was temporarily asked to leave their seat at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Following the Aces’ loss on Tuesday night, head coach Becky Hammon said the fan “crossed” a line with their behavior.
“I think there’s a certain etiquette that both players and fans need to abide by, but clearly there’s something that gets- the lines get crossed, and it seems to happen here,” Hammon told reporters. “I’m not, I mean, like I said, I don’t, I can’t speak specifically to what was said or what was done, but I could speak to the character of our players and stuff that they deal with and, you know, the disrespect, whether that’s a word or an action, a gesture should be addressed appropriately.”
Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images.
Hammon also had this to say: “I’ve never seen A’ja Wilson go like that, so whatever was done, I can tell you she felt very disrespected in that moment.”
Wilson didn’t have much to say about this incident. She did, however, refer to the fan’s behavior as “unacceptable.”
“If I see a man come at me, taking steps toward me and pointing at me, I don’t give a [expletive] what you said. I don’t give a [expletive] how you said it, the tone; that is unacceptable,” Wilson said. “You don’t know me to step toward me and point at me. I’m not for that [expletive] at all. That there is unacceptable.”
Will the WNBA step in and discipline either side?
The Fever have already said the fan involved in this incident didn’t violate their code of conduct.
“Following a report of a comment directed toward a player, arena security spoke with the fan involved and witnesses,” the team said. “Security determined there was no violation of the Fan Code of Conduct, the fan was not removed from the arena. We consider the matter closed.”
Wilson, meanwhile, was in clear violation of the WNBA’s player conduct rules. There’s a section that states players will be ejected for “deliberately entering the stands other than as a continuance of play.” Clearly, that’s what happened on Tuesday night.
The WNBA will not discipline Wilson before this Thursday’s epic Game 3 in Las Vegas. The winner of this game will face either the Golden State Valkyries or Dallas Wings in the semifinals.
