The NBA finals are heating up, as the Golden State Warriors are only one win away from another title after their 104-94 victory over the Boston Celtics. Perhaps a story bigger than that is “Fake Klay Thompson” being banned for life from the Chase Arena.
Dawson Gurley is a Warriors fan who looks surprisingly like Warriors’ star Klay Thompson. Prior to the start of game five, he went through multiple levels of security, who did not ask to see ID, and made it to the court where he shot around with the team to warm up.
Gurley first went viral during the 2018 NBA Finals, sitting court side and signing autographs alongside Steph Curry while pretending to be Thompson. This was well received by fans and players alike.
Gurley was able to shoot around for a total of ten minutes before being escorted out by security, and issued a lifetime ban, accompanied by a letter from the Chase Center.
On top of his lifetime ban, Gurley was not refunded for his $10,000 tickets. The Chase Center also threatened legal action, stating that he could be prosecuted for trespassing when he “pretended” to be a Golden State Warriors’ employee and gained entrance to restricted areas.
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The Chase Center absolutely has the right to issue bans, as it is their arena. However, many, including Gurley, believed this punishment to be a bit extreme. Gurley stated, “Why should I be banned because their security is incompetent?”
It should also be noted that there is no law preventing someone from impersonating a private employee, and the claim of trespassing is shaky considering no one on their security staff even asked for ID.
“Fake Klay Thompson” does not regret his actions, stating that “I was an NBA player for 10 minutes bro.” And that’s ten minutes more than most of us.