Los Angeles Lakers player Russell Westbrook was repeatedly trolled by the opposing team during a match this week - and he didn’t take it lying down.
Westbrook has been in a bit of a slump recently, and during Wednesday night’s game against the Sacramento Kings, the point guard was mocked every time he missed a shot.
Whenever Westbrook missed, the home team trolled him by playing "Cold As Ice" by Foreigner.
The result makes for a funny compilation video of the song repeatedly being played by the Golden 1 Center arena’s DJ.
"You're as coooooold as ice" reverberated the song. Ouch.
Watch the moment below:
the Sacramento Kings played “Cold As Ice” every time Russell Westbrook missed a shot last night.
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) January 13, 2022
when asked after the game about it, he said “that’s funny, i hope they played that the last 14 years too.”
the reel + his comments: pic.twitter.com/mxf3ml0deT
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Clearly, that’s not exactly the best display of sportsmanship, and while the Lakers lost the game 125-116, Sacramento Kings notably haven’t made the playoffs since 2006.
Luckily, Westbrook hit back with a hilarious response when asked about the event.
This was hilarious! Westbrook talking about his shooting slump and the in-arena DJ in Sactown playing "cold as ice": "I hope they played that the last 14 years, too. It's funny they play it now. It's cute [laughs]." pic.twitter.com/pBpIKUNLh0
— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) January 13, 2022
“That’s funny,” he said, seemingly unaware that the song was being played during the game. “I hope they played that the last 14 years too. That’s funny. That’s cute.”
While it was all fun and games to the Lakers’ opposing team.
The NBA has instructed the Kings' arena staff to no longer play the clip going forward, according to a source from ABC10's Sean Cunningham.
Sports fans reacted to the troll incident with mixed feelings on Twitter.
“My man Russ took it well. He’s in a slump but I know he’ll come out of it. I guess everyone will have their fun til then,” wrote a fan of the player.
My man Russ took it well. He’s in a slump but I know he’ll come out of it. I guess everyone will have their fun til then. 😭
— Samelo L. Jackson (@John1and1) January 13, 2022
Another said, “Real talk that’s gotta be so demoralizing if you’re not a vet or something. Surprised more teams don’t do this.”
Real talk that’s gotta be so demoralizing if you’re not a vet or something. Surprised more teams don’t do this
— astolenvisa 🇭🇹 (@astolenvisa) January 13, 2022
“That was elite-level trolling. Not sure I’ve ever seen an officially planned ploy to mock a star player. And that’s why there’s nothing like the NBA,” read one tweet.
That was elite level trolling. Not sure I've ever seen an officially planned ploy to mock a star player. And that's why there's nothing like the NBA
— Collins (@colgy30) January 13, 2022