Details emerge in incident between Aces star A'ja Wilson and Fever fan during playoff game
Caitlin Clark put together a historic performance as the Indiana Fever cruised to a 99-89 victory in Game 2 of their playoff matchup against the Aces on Tuesday, forcing a win-or-go-home Game 3 in Las Vegas.
The biggest story is what happened off the court, though.
With four minutes left in the game, A'ja Wilson drew a controversial blocking foul on Sophie Cunningham. She then saw a fan sitting a few rows back in the baseline courtside seats and took exception with him pointing and saying something to her. She then went out of her way to go two rows deep into the crowd to confront the fan, who had since sat down.
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The Amazon Prime Video broadcasters all considered the male Fever fan guilty before details of what actually happened came out, scolding him on air for his behavior. They had no facts to back up their claims and pronounced Wilson a victim of unsportsmanlike fan behavior as the man was escorted from his seats by security.
The fan was quickly deemed innocent by the Fever saying, "Following a report of a comment directed toward a player, arena security spoke with the fan involved and witnesses. 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."
A fan sitting next to the man involved in the confrontation with Wilson shared details with OutKick about the incident.
According to the fan, the man simply said: "It (the foul) is on you!" while pointing at Wilson.
The fan also said that Wilson kept yelling, "You don't point at me!"
That’s it. Nothing sexist. Nothing race-related. No profanity. Just a fan being a fan. Wilson was set off by a fan sitting courtside, who believed the clocking foul to be a charge. Oh, the horror!
The fan also told OutKick when the man returned to his seat minutes later, he received "thunderous applause" and was "high-fiving other fans."
Wilson even admitted postgame that her confrontation with the fan wasn't because she was offended by what he said, but that his action of taking a half step forward toward the court was "unacceptable."
"If I see a man stepping towards me, I don’t give a damn what you said … That’s unacceptable," she said.
The fan also refuted the claims that the ejected fan was "coming at her." He said, "He was not obnoxious or louder than anyone else. There was never any sense of "coming at her." He was seated by the time she was near him." He also mentioned that the fan was escorted out quickly because "the Aces were so adamant he left."
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Now that the truth of what was said is out there, further proving the man's innocence, we can determine that there was no justifiable reason for Wilson to enter the seating area, the Amazon Prime broadcast team should apologize, and the WNBA should give an explanation as to why Wilson was not ejected.
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According to Rule 12A, Section V: Any player, coach, or trainer who deliberately enters the spectator stands during a game will be automatically ejected.
The rulebook also explicitly states that the first row of seats is considered the beginning of the spectator stands.
Wilson's actions seem to have warranted an ejection by the letter of the law.
This was just another unnecessary fan incident involving a Fever supporter that was ejected and then proven innocent. It's happened multiple times this season alone.
Aces' Jackie Young had two male Fever fans escorted from their seats at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. They were both proven innocent by arena security, just like the fan from Game 2 Tuesday. Also, Amazon Prime was covering that game and the broadcasters considered the men guilty before proven innocent.
This is just another mess for the WNBA, a terrible look for A'ja Wilson, and wildly unprofessional from Amazon Prime Video.