Travis Kelce has admitted that he was taken aback by the Dallas Mavericks fans booing him during an NBA playoff game this week.
The Kansas City Chiefs star joined teammates Marquise ‘Hollywood’ Brown, Patrick Mahomes and the quarterback’s wife Brittany for the Mavericks’ Western Conference Finals Game 3 against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The group sat courtside to soak up the action as Luka Doncic and co. stormed to a dominant 3-0 lead in the series.
However, the American Airlines Center wasn’t exactly kind to Kelce as chorus of boos echoed around the arena when he was shown on the jumbotron.
Dallas native Mahomes, however, received a warm welcome in contrast to his teammate as the Texan fans gave him a huge ovation.
Kelce responded to his Dallas haters during the latest episode of his New Heights podcast with his brother Jason.
‘I got booed twice, it’s… whatever. I get it, I’m not from Dallas, I’m just an innocent bystander,’ Kelce said. ‘Maybe they just don’t like the Chiefs’
Jason then chimed in, checking if the screen had shown Mahomes too in an effort to back his brother and suggest the crowd had been booing both of them.
‘Yeah, but… you know they’ll throw the name underneath and try and specify who they’re showing,’ Travis insisted.
‘They showed me and I got caught off-guard because I was trying to take a selfie with some people around me. And then Pat like taps me, and I’m like, “Oh s*** I’m on the jumbotron”, and then I heard all the boos and I’m like, “Oh s*** I’m getting booed. Nice, thanks, nice to see you guys.” And then they showed Pat and everyone is like “Yay”.
Kelce, Brown and the Mahomeses were treated to a fantastic game that went down to the wire in Dallas as the Mavericks pulled away to a 116-107 win and a commanding 3-0 series lead over Minnesota.
After the game, Mahomes tweeted, ‘Atmosphere was crazy tonight! [fire emojis] Go @dallasmavs!!!!!!’
However, Minnesota managed to dig itself out of the 3-0 hole Tuesday night, rallying to 105-100 win to ensure survival, for now.
Kelce had been in Dallas earlier in the week too, to watch the other tenant at the American Airlines Center: the Dallas Stars.
Dallas was hosting Edmonton in the NHL’s Western Conference Finals – with the former pee wee hockey player Kelce enjoying every moment.
Mahomes even joked at Kelce’s expense – telling him to ‘get out of my arena’.