A more mature Westbrook turns new leaf in dealing with hecklers in the crowd — keeps passion in check

Russell Westbrook’s response to the “bird flipping” 76ers fan in the first game of the season in Philadelphia shows how the Thunder star has come a long way from those early career days when he was painted as the bad boy of the league.

Plus, he doesn’t want to pay any more $25,000 fines to the league for discouraged interactions with unruly fans.

See a good story on this from the Vertical here.

(editorial cartoon by @sportstoons.)