Marcus Smart quickly became a fan favorite among Boston Celtics supporters because of his never-ending hustle, grit, and determination to put his body on the line in every single possession.
Smart is a defensive specialist that can guard one through five and his playmaking has come handily for Brad Stevens‘ team either coming off the bench or subbing in for an injured starter for 6 years now.
However, it seems like not even one of the leaders of one of the most popular teams in the NBAis safe from racism, not even on his turf, as he recently admitted that he was a victim of racial slurs from a Celtics fan.
Marcus Smart Opens Up About Exchange With Racist Celtics Fan
“I was pulling out of the arena parking lot when I saw a white woman with her five- or six-year-old son crossing against the light right as the cars were starting to come at them. I had my windows down and realized something bad was about to happen, so I yelled to her, politely, that she needed to hurry and get out of the street so the two of them wouldn’t get hurt. The woman was wearing an Isaiah Thomas number 4 Celtics jersey and there were all these other Celtics fans around who were at the game. I figured she’d be cool. Nope,” Smart wrote on The Players Tribune.
“She swung her head around and it was… ‘F*ckyou, you f*cking n-word!’ For a second it was like I couldn’t breathe. Did she really say that? And in an instant, just like that, I was made to feel less than human. I wasn’t a person to this woman. I was a form of entertainment. Nothing more,” Smart added.
“And, believe me, it took every ounce of restraint in my body not to curse her out. A few seconds later, I drove off. I just wanted it to be over. But I think about that night, that moment, a lot. And more than anything else, I think about… That little boy,” Smart concluded.
That’s one of the things that most NBA players wanted to speak up during their time in the bubble in Orlando, and one of the reasons why they felt like they had to take a stand against social injustice and racism.
Whether you agree withthem or not or even if you feel that it’s not the player’s role or place to talk politics, there’s just no place in sports – or society – for these kinds of words and behavior, and no one should ever have to go through this or condone this.
