A Knicks fan claimed that Julius Randle had him kicked out of FTX Arena in Miami earlier this week for heckling the slumping forward.
Earlier this month, Randle was fined $25,000 for saying a thumbs-down gesture was intended to say “shut the f-ck up” to booing fans at Madison Square Garden.
A caller to WFAN’s “Carton & Roberts” who identified himself as Dylan from Miami said he had “a horrible experience” at Wednesday’s road loss to the Heat.
The fan said he was seated behind the visiting bench with his girlfriend when he stood up in the second quarter and yelled “Hey Randle, you get a $118 million contract and this is what I get? The fans get a thumbs down, this is what we get?” The fan insisted during the call that he said “nothing personal” or profane, but he was issued a warning after Randle pointed him out to arena security.
Later in the game, the fan said he also yelled at the Knicks forward that he was “minus-34” in the blowout loss, and Randle alerted security again. The spectator then was thrown out of the game by two uniformed police officers, according to a video posted on WFAN’s Twitter account.
“His head wasn’t even in the game. He was just waiting for me to say the next thing,” the caller added about Randle.
Ahead of Friday’s game in Milwaukee, Randle told reporters that he still wants to “be a part of” a potential turnaround with the Knicks and “see this thing through.” Randle’s scoring and shooting numbers are down considerably from last season, when he was named to All-NBA second team after helping lead the Knicks to their first playoff berth since 2013.