Minnesota Timberwolves Owner Alex Rodriguez Gifts Jersey To Young Fan Caught In The Middle Of Wild Brawl

The NBA wanted in on the March Madness this past weekend.

When the Detroit Pistons and the Minnesota Timberwolves faced off on Sunday afternoon in Minneapolis, the league had their own modern version of the “Malice at the Palace.” That being said, this recent fight still doesn’t hold a candle to the incident in 2004, when Ron Artest (now known as Metta Sandiford-Artest) went into the crowd and punched someone in attendance, and was hit with an 86-game suspension after the fact (the longest suspension in the history of the NBA).

And to be clear, this kerfuffle stayed mostly between NBA players… though it did spill into the crowd a bit.

It all started when Detroit Pistons center Isaiah Stewart got called for a technical after bumping into Timberwolves guard Donte DiVincenzo. Pistons forward Ron Holland II then got hit with a foul after he slapped the ball out of Minnesota forward Naz Reid’s hands, and that was apparently all it took to spark a fight that quickly got out of hand.

As you can see in the video below:

TIMBERWOLVES & PISTONS FIGHT!!! pic.twitter.com/ZVRuTD9XAH

— NBACentel (@TheNBACentel) March 31, 2025

Even the cameraman got caught in the crossfire (and yes, I did just embed the video from the official, legendary NBA Centel account).

Unlike the wonderful sport of hockey, where fighting is actually welcomed, the NBA has strict rules against players having on-court conflicts. In fact, the National Basketball Association’s official rule against fighting reads:

“Violent acts of any nature on the court will not be tolerated. Players involved in altercations will be ejected, fined and/or suspended. There is absolutely no justification for fighting in an NBA game. The fact that you may feel provoked by another player is not an acceptable excuse. If a player takes it upon himself to retaliate, he can expect to be subject to appropriate penalties.”

The higher ups at the NBA especially hated this particular fight because it accidentally got fans sitting courtside involved. That’s pretty easy to see from this video taken from a baseline seat close to the court:

This view of the Timberwolves-Pistons fight pic.twitter.com/Az1hESpbUZ

— NBA Memes (@NBAMemes) March 31, 2025

Unfortunately, a young Minnesota Timberwolves fan was caught right in the middle of that mess.

Minnesota Timberwolves owner Alex Rodriguez was sitting just 20 feet away from where the fight broke out, and after cooler heads prevailed, he walked over to assist the kid that was unintentionally brought into the NBA battle. The Athletic’s John Krawczyski first reported that A-Rod had come over to help:

Alex Rodriguez came over to comfort a kid who was caught in the middle of the fight.

— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) March 30, 2025

And A-Rod didn’t come empty handed.

He gifted the Minnesota Timberwolves the young fan with a Naz Reid jersey after the kid was caught in the thick of it. It should pair well with the No. 5 Anthony Edwards jersey that he was already sporting. At the end of the day, it’s great that no one was injured during the scary scene, and to be honest… I’d bet this young fan is the coolest kid in school.

Classy move by A-Rod to act fast and get him a jersey:

Alex Rodriguez gave this kid that was in the middle of the brawl a Naz Reid jersey

(h/t @TrendingSportsP)pic.twitter.com/HWWsRHgmuK

— Fullcourtpass (@Fullcourtpass) March 31, 2025