Fiery Rockets legend Vernon Maxwell, who started for Houston’s first NBA championship team in 1994, has become best known during his retirement for having fun at the expense of rival fan bases.
For years, Maxwell has prodded fans of the Utah Jazz, who are longtime rivals of the Rockets dating back to Maxwell’s heyday in the 1990s. Historically, his Twitter barbs at Utah’s expense have poked fun at Salt Lake City’s status as one of the league’s smallest markets, as well as the fact that the franchise still remains without an NBA title.
This week, Maxwell reveled in the 2019-20 Jazz becoming just the 12th team in NBA history to lose a playoff series after having a 3-1 lead.
Maxwell doesn’t have personal history with fans in the Oklahoma City area, since the Thunder were still operating as the Seattle Sonics during Maxwell’s playing days. But with the Rockets winning Game 7 of their first-round series over the Thunder on Wednesday night, Maxwell naturally jumped in the fray with shots at another smaller market — all while throwing in even more jabs at Utah, for good measure.
I definitely feel bad for OKC bc they played hard. And you gotta feel for their fans bc what else is there to do in OKC but watch basketball? My advice is just cheer for Houston and pretend like Westbrook is still playing for OKC.
— Vernon Maxwell (@VernonMaxwell11) September 3, 2020
Good morning Clutch City! Feels good to still be in the playoffs don’t it? I pray that one day Thunder and Jazz fans will get to experience this feeling. 🤞#JustKidding #FreeDonovanMitchell
— Vernon Maxwell (@VernonMaxwell11) September 3, 2020
Maxwell may not ever be greeted with a fond welcome in Oklahoma City or Salt Lake City, but it seems he has no desire to go there, anyway.
As for his Rockets, they will resume play Friday with a second-round matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers. Considering that the Lakers have significantly more titles (16) than Houston (2) and are a larger market, Maxwell will likely have to invent some new material if he wants to expand his Twitter trolling game to Los Angeles.
At this point, though, it would be foolish to count him out.
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I’m not sure why I’m getting so much heat from OKC fans. I think it’s a great city. They have a great Walmart and the VHS section of their Blockbuster always has a nice selection. People in Utah would die to have those things. #begrateful.
— Vernon Maxwell (@VernonMaxwell11) September 3, 2020
My work here is done (for today anyways). Good day OKC. Mad Max out! pic.twitter.com/uUgNEaN8tB
— Vernon Maxwell (@VernonMaxwell11) September 3, 2020