Four fans on the court, at least one of whom did not cover his face with a mask, were kicked out of Monday’s game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Atlanta Hawks after a verbal dispute with Lakers star LeBron James, confirmed the Hawks on ESPN.
Juliana Carlos, who later posted on social media, and her husband, Chris Carlos, exchanged words with James in the fourth quarter of the Lakers ’107-99 victory over the visiting Lakers, prompting the expulsion.
Juliana Carlos posted a video on her Instagram account showing the scene shortly after the intervention of State Farm Arena security staff and one of the referees, Mitchell Ervin.
She can be heard saying, “Shut the f — up. Don’t talk like that to my husband,” as he stood in the sideline with the mask pulled under his chin. You can hear someone off-camera asking you to put on the mask, which is a must for all NBA game fans this season. He wrote “f — ing loser” in a text box to accompany the video, with the camera pointed at James.
After the expulsion, Carlos posted a selfie-style video, where he explained what happened.
“So I’m thinking about my own business, and Chris has been a Hawks fan forever. I’ve been watching games for ten years. However, he has this problem with LeBron. I have no problem with LeBron. I don’t have any. “I don’t feel like LeBron,” he says in the video. “Anyway, I’m thinking about my own business, drinking mine [beverage], having fun. Suddenly, LeBron says something to my husband, and I see him and stand up. And I say, “Don’t talk to my husband.” And he looks at me and says, “Sit down, bitch.” And I say, “Don’t call me a bitch. You hear the f — down. Get the f — out of here. Don’t talk like that to my husband.”
James was not asked after the game about Carlos’ accusation, but he was not stunned by the incident and said he felt an expulsion was not necessary.
“At the end of the day, I’m glad the fans are back in the building,” he said after adding 21 points, nine assists and seven rebounds to help LA win by road. “I miss that interaction. I need that interaction; we, as players, need that interaction. I don’t think it was justified for him to be kicked out.”
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LeBron James acknowledges that he misses the interaction with the fans and is not sure that the spectators should have been eliminated from the game.
However, he said alcohol could have been a major factor.
“Maybe they would have had a couple of drinks,” he said. “And they probably could have continued during the game, and the game would no longer have been about the game, so I think the referees did what they had to do.”
James also said Chris Carlos “went out of bounds” with everything he addressed to him. “I suppose [Carlos] He said something that did the big problem wrong, “added Lakers center Montrezl Harrell.
Although James said he wasn’t close enough to the fans for Juliana Carlos to take off her mask to potentially commit, other Lakers members found it unacceptable.
“He certainly exposed something about having fans in the pandemic,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. “Obviously, you can’t get fans to take off their masks and yell at our players with the virus during those times.”
“With COVID up and running, we obviously can’t have it,” echoed Anthony Davis, an older man. “We want to make sure we can all be safe.”
James later tweeted about Carlos, giving him a mocking nickname that is commonly used to make fun of titled white women.
The Hawks are one of nine NBA teams currently allowing fans to attend their home games. Atlanta’s State Farm Arena currently allows up to 8% of its capacity for Hawks games, according to a team official. Attendance announced Monday was 1,341.
Despite the episode, several Lakers still supported fans attending their games.
“We love having fans of the game. Whether we’re at home or away, it just gives us back the game we like, that joy from the fans and the support,” Davis said. “Whether it’s 500 people or 1,000, 1,500, whatever, it’s always fun to play in front of a crowd.”
“I love our fans,” James reiterated. “Laker Nation and everyone who is against Laker Nation. It feels better. The fans in the stands are, it’s better. It’s better for everyone, especially in the last game of a 14-day road trip.”