In today’s world of smartphones and 24/7 social media, strange incidents during sports events often go viral within minutes.
Which makes a bizarre recent incident involving Cleveland Cavaliers center Tristan Thompson even stranger, because it went virtually unnoticed for almost a week.
During Saturday’s game, as the Cavaliers hosted the Atlanta Hawks, a ball got stuck in the basket support behind the backboard. An official motioned to a teen holding a sweat mop to knock the ball down.
Thompson stepped forward and told the mop boy to move back. The official motioned for the kid to come back out. Thompson then began angrily gesturing for him to move back, and then grabbed the mop from him and theatrically leaned it against the basket support.
The moment came off as incredibly odd. One can only imagine the poor teen holding the mop, not knowing what to do (although he will definitely have a fun story to tell his grandchildren one day).
“Don’t yell at the mop boy,” a fan can be heard saying in a video of the incident.
Eventually, someone apparently with arena staff grabbed the mop and knocked the ball down.
It’s unclear why this incident went virtually unnoticed for almost a week before blowing up on X/Twitter Friday. Here’s game broadcast of the incident.
It’s also unclear just what Thompson intended by gesturing and yelling at the mop boy.
While many fans were mad at Thompson for seemingly berating the boy, others argued his venom was aimed at the referees, who he felt should get the ball down, and that he was just being overly theatrical in his gestures toward the teen.
[Clutch Points; Photo Credit: @docucontent/tt]
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.