It is not always an easy task for NBA players to play games on their rival team’s home turf. They can often be subjected to audible boos, personal attacks and, on some occasions, have to face unruly behavior by the fans. While some take it well in their stride, Dallas Mavericks star Kyrie Irving was not recently among them yet again.

The Mavericks and the Oklahoma City Thunder recently competed in their first semi-final clash of the ongoing tournament. The matchup took place at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma, with the major crowd standing in obvious support of the home team. 2 minutes into the game, the ball accidentally slipped from Shai-Gilgeous Alexander’s hand to roll in the direction of a fan sitting courtside. As Mavericks lead scorer Luka Doncic went to him to retrieve the ball, the fan threw it away in the other direction. Doncic was amused by this, but Kyrie Irving was not. Once he got the ball, the latter softly threw it back in the individual’s direction and got into an altercation with him. While it was not sure what the player said back then, a recent video on X has revealed the details of their conversation.

“What the f**k are you doing?” said Irving to the attendee. “Don’t say another word to me bro.” As the fan stood up to audibly argue back, the player continued exclaiming, “F*ck is wrong with you, man?” and “Grow up”.

The fan was later identified as an individual named Juan Guerra. According to reports, he is a long-time OKC fan who has never missed out on a home game except during the 2020-21 period. After the verbal altercation, he took to his official X account to highlight the two official warnings he received from the NBA. The fan was supposedly proud of getting into the head of the Mavericks shooting guard. He wrote, “We in his (Irving) skin already“ and “Kyrie ran his mouth and I get this lol. Soft” on the captions of his X post.

The player himself addressed the issue during the post-game press conference by stating, “He called me out my name. So, I just had to make sure I looked him eye to eye and see if he’d say it to my face.”

Whether it was the presence of OKC fans around them or something else, the Mavericks were unable to pull off the same offensive prowess as they did during the first round of the playoffs. Game 1 ended with the franchise losing by a score of 95-117.

Kyrie Irving has lived the instance one too many times

If one would tell you that this recent incident of Kyrie Irving arguing with a rival team’s fan was an isolated one, then they would be wrong. During his 13-year NBA career, the player has had his share of issues with some attendees at a basketball arena who may or may not have been at fault.

In March 2023, the Mavericks were competing against the Charlotte Hornets at the Spectrum Center in North Carolina. During the game, a fan reportedly started heckling the shooting guard. Irving didn’t take too long to react. He had a referee tag alongside him, walked to the other side of the court, and pointed out the individual, who was later escorted out of the arena by security.

Such instances were not limited to his time as a Mavericks player. Back in April 2022, when he was playing for the Brooklyn Nets, Irving argued with a Knicks fan while returning to the locker room during halftime. A few weeks later, while competing against the Celtics at the TD Garden, he dropped an impressive two-pointer while being efficiently blocked by the Celtics roster. After making the shot, he took a quick second and showed a middle finger to the crowd. He has also been fined $25,000 in 2022 for directing obscene language toward a fan.

Kyrie Irving and the other Mavericks have one more game remaining at the Paycom Center before returning to their home turf of Texas. Till then, it remains to be seen whether the player will help secure a win for his team and, at the same time, keep his cool against the unruly crowd.