LeBron James Responds to Fan Who Heckled Him During Lakers Loss to Pelicans: ‘Shut Your Ass Up’

LeBron James is getting fed up.

In the middle of the Lakers’ game against the New Orleans Pelicans, which ended in a blowout, LeBron was heard responding to a fan in the crowd who appeared to be heckling him. “Tell me one thing you know about basketball besides the ball going in … Shut your ass up,” he can be heard saying in the clip below.

During much of the second half of the game, the Lakers were met with boos from fans, who can’t be happy with the team’s recent struggles. “I don’t have answers for tonight,” LeBron said postgame. He admitted that the team’s performance, from the eighth minute of the second quarter onwards, wasn’t up to snuff. “Right now it’s about how we can get better today. … We’ve still got 10 road games in March, so it doesn’t get easier for us.”

James wasn’t the only Laker player to respond to jeers from the crowd. In the same clip above, shared by Michael Morales on Instagram, Trevor Ariza can be heard calling someone in the crowd a “bitch.” The heckler in that instance was later escorted out of the Crypto.com Arena. Russell Westbrook was also filmed interacting with the crowd, but it’s unclear what he said.

This isn’t the first time that LeBron has pushed back against vocal fans this season. He notably had two Indiana Pacers fans removed from a game in November of last year. “When obscene gestures and language come into it, can’t be tolerated,” he said after that game. “There’s a difference from cheering for your team and not wanting the other team to win and things I would never say to a fan and they shouldn’t say to me.”

The Lakers currently sit ninth in the Western Conference, having lost seven of their last ten games.