Tari Eason didn’t have the best reputation. Fans grew more infuriated when he deliberately pushed Vince Williams Jr., causing significant ACL damage. The incident itself was unfortunate. The Rockets’ promising forward has known Williams for a few years. Despite his unusually unforgiving demeanor, Eason went over to the Jazz locker room to apologise for the event.

And his mother, Teroya Eason, also shared those sentiments. “Vince. To you and your family. I’m so sorry!” she wrote on X. However, she also came to defend her son’s image. Fans were blaming Eason for attempting to injure Vince Williams Jr. His mother clearly clarified that the 24-year-old would never do something like that.

“If you’ve watched My son‘s past injuries, you would know how many men run into him at full speed. That wasn’t a dirty play, that was basketball. How can you shove someone in the shoulder and tear their ACL? That was rhetorical unless you’re a doctor. Dirty plays are premeditated. Sought after. Even in split seconds. Highlight reels are for gamblers; start watching basketball,” Teroya Eason continued.

Was the push meant to stop Vince Williams Jr? Yes. Did Tari Eason do so knowing what the consequences would be? Absolutely not. The Rockets forward looked just as concerned as anyone in the arena when seeing his acquaintance unable to put any weight on his left leg. Eason’s reason for shoving him was to get a clear lane to the rim.

The officials should have seen it and called it. That was an offensive foul as Tari Eason obstructed Williams Jr’s motion. But Eason didn’t mean to push the Jazz player into suffering a career-altering injury.

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Tari Eason apologizes to Vince Williams Jr.

Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy was furious. “That’s not basketball,” he said about Tari Eason’s blatant push on his player. Vince Williams Jr. had just joined the team and has a team option for next season. His NBA future could be largely impacted by this injury, which might have played into Hardy’s frustrations.

However, Tari Eason didn’t try to defend himself. During the press conference, he clarified that his aim was never to cause any harm to somebody he knows very well.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for him, and I know it’s his contract year … I didn’t intend on doing anything. My intentions are always just to play hard. So I went to go holler and just check on him. Obviously, nothing helps, but just tell him that I apologize. You know, nobody’s trying to hurt anybody,” said the 24-year-old Rockets star.

Players also understood. The Jazz’s Keyonte George called the injury a “freak accident”. That’s the best way to describe it. Eason’s shove caused the injury. Nobody is questioning that. But there was never an intent to hurt or severely injure Vince Williams Jr. Eason was trying to prevent the Jazz star from getting back.

Sadly, it does mean the 25-year-old could have to go through a long recovery and possibly be shut down for this season.