Isaiah Thomas finally thought a conversation was in order.
During the 2019-20 season, Thomas, a member of the Washington Wizards, was playing in Philadelphia against the 76ers. A fan had been cursing at him while holding outstretched middle fingers from both of his hands.
After it happened a third time, Thomas walked into the stands -- calmly, he said -- to talk to the fan.
"I'm not going to go in there by myself, trying to raise havoc," Thomas said. "But in my situation, I needed to say something to that man and let him know that that was not right."
The fan, Thomas said, quickly apologized, saying he was upset that a free throw Thomas had made prevented him from cashing in on a promotion for a free Frosty.
"That means you don't respect me as a human being," Thomas said. "I think that's why players are so upset now. It's like: 'Are you looking at us like human beings? As people? Or just somebody you're coming to watch?' "
This season, the NBA has given fans plenty to watch, from the stunning play of Phoenix's Devin Booker and the quick exit of the Los Angeles Lakers to the aligning of Brooklyn's stars and the battles of one-upmanship between Denver's Nikola Jokic and Portland's Damian Lillard.
But the playoffs have also been defined by unruly fan behavior as NBA arenas started opening to near capacity in time for the playoffs. The last time there were this many fans in arenas, it was before the NBA was at the center of the protests for social justice and equality that roiled the country in the fall. Fans are returning to watch many of the same players -- but the players are not the same. The message from athletes, especially those who are Black, is that they want to be respected.
In New York, a fan spat on Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young. In Utah, the family of Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant was targeted with racist and lewd remarks while watching in the stands. In Boston, Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving had a water bottle hurled in his direction. In Philadelphia, a fan dumped popcorn on Washington's Russell Westbrook as he left the floor after an injury.
"What if he would've ran into the stands and put his hands on that fan?" Thomas said. "Everybody would've said he was wrong. But in any other setting in life, if I'm walking down the street and somebody pours popcorn on me, what do you think is going to happen?"
In some ways, raucous behavior is another indicator of a return to pre-pandemic life. Sports is often a bellwether for society, and to a point, extreme behavior is ingrained in fandom. As the country reopens, airlines are experiencing boisterous conduct and people are fighting in stands at baseball stadiums.
Emerging from the pandemic may have created a reckoning between NBA fans and players. Some fans may have pent-up frustration from being isolated for so long. Kevin Durant, a teammate of Irving's, said pandemic quarantining had "got a lot of people on edge." The episodes involve a minuscule fraction of the thousands of fans who have returned to NBA arenas.
But some travel beyond the traditional heckling of, say, Spike Lee at Madison Square Garden taunting an opposing player. They involve subtle and overt racism -- "underlying racism and just treating people like they're in a human zoo," Irving said. And while the interactions are not new, the infractions are being documented through social media and arena cameras, and players seem more willing to speak out against them.
"In general, it seems like this is what happens when people haven't been outside for a year and a half," said Louis Moore, an associate history professor at Grand Valley State University in Michigan. "Specifically, it's part of who we are as fans. It's fandom. It's rowdyism. And then it's even more specific when it looks like these NBA incidents are targeted at Black athletes. That's part of American sports."
In 2019, Thomas received a two-game suspension after the Frosty incident, and two fans -- the one who had held up his middle fingers toward Thomas and another heckler -- were barred from Wells Fargo Arena for a year.
"The consequences, I don't know what it should be," Thomas said, "but I think it should be a little bit more so fans would think twice about what they do before they do it or what they say before they say it. But I don't think the arena ban is scaring anybody off.
"I don't have the answer to what they could possibly do. I know the NBA is on top of everything for the players, but something's got to change for sure."