NBA champion LeBron James has been caught up in heat over an argument which occurred between himself and fans over the LA Lakers win against Atlanta Hawks.
There were about 1,300 fans at at the Hawks’ State Farm Arena.
LeBron James, however, says the argument which happened during the Los Angeles Lakers’ 107-99 win was “blown out of proportion” and they did not deserve to be ejected.
James said: “I’m happy fans are back. I need that interaction. I don’t feel like they deserved to be kicked out.”
Explaining what had gone on in the incident that caused the game to be paused in the fourth quarter, James added:
“There was a back and forth between two grown men, he said his piece, I said my piece.
“And then someone else jumped in and said their piece. But I don’t think they should have been kicked out.
“They might have had a couple of drinks maybe. It’s fine. It kind of got blown out of proportion, fans in the stands, just feels better.”
One of the women had removed her face mask to shout at James, a move condemned by Lakers’ head coach Frank Vogel.
James scored 21 points, including the decisive final nine for his side, and added seven rebounds and nine assists in the win over the Hawks, with Anthony Davis top-scoring for the Lakers with 25.
BBC SPORT