What a world we live in. Where fans of opposing teams can sue opposing players...
After the devastating loss to the Warriors on Tuesday, things just got a little more interesting for the Spurs.
Apparently a fan has filed a lawsuit against Zaza Pachulia and the Golden State Warriors alleging that Pachulia's actions against Kawhi Leonard "devastated the quality of the Spurs being competitive, and diminished the value of the tickets purchased by the plaintiff subsequent to their purchase."
And he might have a point...
Details:
During game 1, Pachulia rotated over late to contest a Kawhi Leonard jumper. In doing so he moved his foot up under Kawhi Leonard while he was in the air. When Leonard came down, he had no choice but to land on Pachulia's foot, further tweaking his already sprained left ankle.
Pachulia claims that it was not a dirty play and that he was just playing hard trying to contest the shot the best way he could.
My thoughts...
As you can see in the picture above, it looks like the move may have been unintentional (at least at first). However, myself being a former basketball player, I can tell you that putting your foot under a jumper shooter when he is shooting is most likely intentional, and if it is not, leaving it there and letting him land on it certainly is.
It's just not a natural thing to do when contesting a jump shot.
I have had it done to me several times and it was intentional in every instance. Greg Popovich seemed to reach the same conclusion as he stated:
"It's just not what anyone else does to anybody else."
Whether Pachulia knew it would actually hurt Leonard or not is another story, but his intentions were absolutely to try judging by his actions.
Leonard missed game 2 in which the Spurs were blown out by 36 points, and there is no guarantee he will be ready to play when Game 3 tips off on Saturday.
Leonard is clearly the Spurs best player and without him they likely have very little chance of winning the series. The fan paid very good money for his playoff tickets which are now worth much less since no one wants to go watch their team get blown out.
What do you say?
Does the plaintiff have a point? What, if anything, should be done?
Resource:
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/19405848/san-antonio-spurs-fan-sues-golden-state-warriors-zaza-pachulia-alleges-serious-injury
Pictures:
http://usaonlinejournal.com/2017/05/17/spurs-fan-sues-warriors-zaza-pachulia-over-controversial-play/
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/19405848/san-antonio-spurs-fan-sues-golden-state-warriors-zaza-pachulia-alleges-serious-injury
