Things got tense during Carmelo Anthony’s final season in the NBA. Late in the fourth quarter of the Lakers’ matchup against the 76ers, a pair of Philly fans took their heckling too far, pushing the veteran forward to his breaking point. Anthony, never one to back down, turned to confront them, and before long, security had them escorted out.

After the game, Melo made it clear why he reacted the way he did—one of the fans kept calling him “boy” repeatedly. That word is a derogatory term, especially when used by a white person to refer to a Black man. That fan? Mike Murphy. Interestingly, after the incident, he received an indefinite ban from all future games at the Wells Fargo Center.

Fast forward to today, and it’s clear Anthony hasn’t forgotten that moment. On his podcast, he reflected on the night, still frustrated by the disrespect. “I know the environment I’m in. I’m laughing and joking with one of the guys, and this man, this white man, tells, right now in the court, ‘boy,’ or some s— like that,” Melo recalled. The comment stopped him in his tracks, sending his mind into overdrive.

And it didn’t stop there. As Melo turned to address Murphy, another fan—this time at half-court—jumped in, adding to the chaos. “So I’m arguing with him. It’s another n—- in a half court arguing with me… but he’s got to cheer for Philly, so, I understand that,” he said. But with tensions high, the situation quickly spiraled. Before he knew it, his anger at Murphy bled into his reaction to the other fan.

“So my energy towards this guy end up going towards this guy,” he added. That’s when the other fan tried to clear things up: “I’m just saying. I’m a fan. It’s that guy over there. That’s the one who got you high, bro.”

For Melo, heckling is just part of the game—until it crosses the line. “So it’s like, you just, it’s a fine line that you actually cross though,” he explained. His message to fans? Keep it about the game. “If you want to talk s—… little s—, like that’s fine and cool, but don’t cross the line.”

Banned fan speaks out on Carmelo Anthony incident

Mike Murphy had something to say. Just hours after the incident, he called into Angelo Cataldi and the Morning Team on SportsRadio 94WIP, insisting that his comments toward Carmelo Anthony weren’t racist.

“He comes down the court,” Murphy explained on air. “We’re blowing [them] out in the game. I say to him, ‘You’re a little boy. Let him shoot. Let him shoot.’ He looked at me. He smiles. I think he goes down to the other end of the court. He comes back down … and I say, ‘Let him shoot. He’s a little boy.’ And he lost his cool out of nowhere.”

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The Inquirer also reported that a league source said Murphy denied calling Anthony a “boy” when security questioned him at the arena. Instead, he claimed he called Melo a “bum.” However, this wasn’t his first run-in with disciplinary action—his behavior had been flagged before.

Meanwhile, Anthony made it clear he wasn’t okay with the comments. And with the ban in place, he won’t be stepping inside the arena anytime soon.