New York Knicks ban fan from Madison Square Garden for spitting on Atlanta Hawks’ Trae Young

The New York Knicks say they’ve banned a fan who spit on Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Younger on Wednesday evening throughout Sport 2 of their first-round playoff sequence.

The Knicks launched a press release on the matter on Thursday afternoon.

“We investigated the matter and decided that this patron, who isn’t a season ticket holder, did certainly spit on Trae Younger, and for that cause, he’s now banned from The Backyard indefinitely. We apologize to Trae and your complete Atlanta Hawks group for this fan’s conduct. This was utterly unacceptable and won’t be tolerated in our venue. Now we have turned the data over to the suitable authorities,” the workforce mentioned.

This was the second fan-related incident to occur on Wednesday following a fan in Philadelphia throwing popcorn on Washington Wizards guard Russell Westbrook as he was heading down the tunnel. Philadelphia introduced the punishment for the fan on Thursday as that fan was additionally banned indefinitely from Wells Fargo Heart.

Younger’s incident occurred with 8:34 left within the fourth quarter whereas Younger was inbounding the ball on the sideline nearest to the followers. Video of the incident was broadly circulated on social media following the sport.

Younger has been the focus for Knicks followers who’ve chanted “F— Trae Younger” all through the primary two video games.

Early Thursday morning, Younger’s dad Ray Younger took to Twitter to offer his ideas on the spitting. “Gotta get this underneath management. @russwest44 will get popcorn thrown on him & @TheTraeYoung will get spat on. I can cope with all of the chants about my son, it comes with it. However this must be addressed.” Trae Younger additionally had retweeted the video, writing “Rattling… Loopy !”

Gotta get this underneath management. @russwest44 will get popcorn thrown on him & @TheTraeYoung will get spat on. I can cope with all of the chants about my son, it comes with it. However this must be addressed.@NBAonTNT @NBA @espn @nyknicks @NBATheJump https://t.co/0WoO5jtAc2

— Ray Younger (@rayfordyoung) Could 27, 2023

The NBA launched a press release on Thursday concerning the league’s code of conduct within the playoffs being enforced: “The return of extra NBA followers to our arenas has introduced nice pleasure and vitality to the beginning of the playoffs, however it’s essential that all of us present respect for gamers, officers and our fellow followers. An enhanced fan code of conduct might be vigorously enforced with a purpose to guarantee a secure and respectful atmosphere for all concerned.”

On Sunday, Younger mentioned he understands the historical past of gamers going into Madison Sq. Backyard and being painted the villain by Knicks followers.

“Like I mentioned, I take that as a praise to be sincere with you,” Younger mentioned following the Hawks’ Sport 1 win. “Clearly I’m doing one thing proper when you hate me that a lot. I embrace it and attempt to deal with my workforce and making an attempt to assist my workforce win. On the finish of the day, we’ll get the final giggle if we try this.”

The Knicks and Hawks will meet in Atlanta for Sport 3 on Friday.