Former NBA star Montrezl Harrell is one of three players asked to explain their actions to NBL officials after wild scenes on and off the court marred a dramatic Melbourne United-Adelaide 36ers clash.
The NBL is investigating after an on-court confrontation between Sixers big man Harrell and United centre Rob Loe on Sunday escalated to the point where at least one fan became physically involved with players.
The ugly episode started when Harrell was called for an offensive foul on Loe and gave his opponent a shove as he was getting back to his feet.
Loe's teammate Shea Ili took offence and players from the opposing sides had to be separated.
Spectators seated courtside got involved when the Sixers players got back to their bench, where at least one fan laid hands on Adelaide captain Dejan Vasiljevic and general manager Matt Weston.
Harrell and fellow import Kendric Davis took particular offence and had to be held back from the offending fan.
Four fans were ejected from the arena, while Harrell and Ili were ejected for what happened on-court. Melbourne won the game 113-93.
The NBL on Monday confirmed it has asked Harrell, Davis, Ili and United assistant coach David Barlow for submissions in relation to the incident.
They have until 6pm Tuesday to make their submissions.
On Sunday night, Harrell took to social media and blamed the fan for the incident escalating.
"But I'm the bad guy right I literally try calm down but then mf want try the tuff (two poo emojis). so now I'm riding for my team sorry not sorry (three shrug emojis)️," he posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Tennis player Nick Kyrgios - a part-owner of NBL team South East Melbourne Phoenix - replied with a message of support for Harrell.
"Spectators should sit down and shut up and clap that's about it trezz I'm with you," Kyrgios posted.
Sixers coach Mike Wells saw nothing wrong with his players' actions but felt the fans involved had stepped over the line.
"That's part of our group coming together in a hostile environment and playing basketball," Wells said.
"I don’t want to have fight in the game and stuff, I never want to have that, we want to come here and compete, and take it right to the line and never cross the line.
"That's about competition and I think we all love competition, that's why we do what we do. There's one thing within the lines on the court and whatever happened out there, I saw a lot of guys instigating instead of separating, and that's not good.
"And then I saw fans instigating and that's not good. There's one thing on the court, but it can't happen with the fans. You pay your money and you can do anything you want, you just can't touch people."
United coach Dean Vickerman was also content with his team's response and condemned spectators who got physical.
"I didn’t think we did anything to super escalate the situation and I thought our intention once it got heated was to defuse it as quick as we could," Vickerman said.
"The fans are there to view the game and support the game, and you never want to see a crossover with players and fans, you want to see it the part of engagement and stuff like that.
"But obviously we've crossed the line in the game there where they've reacted to whatever's been said. It's something that we don't want to see."
