Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson defended her confrontation with an Indiana Fever fan during Tuesday’s playoff game, saying the spectator stepped toward her and pointed at her in a way she considered “unacceptable.”
Wilson received a technical foul for leaving the court during the exchange late in the fourth quarter of Game Two. Indiana was leading 90-79 at the time.
The incident followed a physical foul involving Fever guard Sophie Cunningham. Wilson had become tangled with Cunningham before turning toward a spectator seated two rows behind the basket.
The fan was seen pointing and shouting at Wilson. She moved toward him before teammates and officials intervened.
After the game, Wilson said her reaction had more to do with the man’s movements than anything he said.
“I don’t really get into the bullsh*t. I try to play my game. But if I’m just walking and I just got the foul, I’m chilling. If I see a man coming at me, taking steps toward me and pointing at me, I don’t give a damn what you said, I don’t give a damn how you said, the tone, that is unacceptable,” Wilson told reporters.
“You don’t step towards me. You should never step and point at me. I’m not for that sh*t at all,” she continued.
The Fever said arena security investigated the exchange, spoke with the spectator and witnesses, and found no violation that warranted removing him.
“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; Aces 100K the fan was not removed from the arena. We consider the matter closed,” the team said in a statement.
Wilson stood by her response despite that finding. She also said she apologized to her teammates for the technical foul.
“That, there, it’s unacceptable. And how he gets back in the game because they said he didn’t do anything – of course he didn’t – and that’s fine,” Wilson said.
“I apologized to my team because I got us a tech… but there’s certain things I’m not going to allow anymore because it’s unacceptable. You don’t know me at all to come and step towards me and say anything.”
Aces coach Becky Hammon said she did not see how the confrontation started, but she had “never seen” Wilson “react like that” before.
“Whatever was done, she felt very disrespected in that moment. … Whatever it was, it doesn’t have any place in that arena,” Hammon said.
Social media users weighed in on the confrontation, with some criticizing Wilson’s response to the fan.