A fan in Utah attempted to distract James Harden at the free throw line during Monday night's contest between the Jazz and the Rockets, which isn't a crime all by itself.
But the method this particular fan chose to do so ended up getting him tossed.
Referees caught the individual using a laser pointer, which aren't allowed in NBA arenas, and security was then sent over to deal with the situation.
“Some guy was lasering me,” Harden said, via the Houston Chronicle. “I saw it the first time and I thought it was a picture being taken. I went to the foul line again and it happened again. The referee (Tom Washington) caught it before I did. That’s the first time that happened to me.”
The fan was ejected, and received a one-year ban from NBA arenas, according to multiple reports.
That sounds like a stiffer punishment than it actually is, because it's difficult to see how that possibly could be enforced. Still, it's a good precedent for the league to set in order to prevent other fans from attempting to do the same thing in the future.
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