76ers' Frosty Freeze-out Controversy Results in Punishment for All Parties

This past Saturday night was quite the scene at the Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia. As the Philadelphia 76ers hosted the Washington Wizards, the home team won the crowd over by bouncing back and picking up a solid victory.

Despite the Sixers getting over their zone woes, and back in the win column, that wasn't even the hottest story of the night. Instead, everybody wanted to discuss the scene that occurred late in the game involving Wizards point guard, Isaiah Thomas, and two particular Philadelphia 76ers fans in the crowd.

At first, the entire situation was quite confusing. The game stopped and caused the referees to head over to the scorer's table to review something. Since the game was technically stopped for a timeout, it was unclear what the refs were looking at.

Meanwhile, the crowd around the Wizards bench was mostly on their feet, looking at what seemed to be a bit of controversy going on. In Philly, that typically means a fan is getting kicked out. But the fans wouldn't be the only ones.

As it turned out, Wizards point guard, Isaiah Thomas, was going to be escorted out of the fishbowl early, as he was ejected for entering the stands to have a word with two fans.

According to Thomas, he witnessed two Sixers fans in the crowd aiming middle fingers towards him while using disrespectful and vulgar language. Therefore, the Wizards' veteran decided to take matters into his own hands and have a discussion with said fans.

When Thomas questioned why they were being disrespectful, the fan simply stated, "I'm sorry, I just wanted a Frosty." When explaining the situation, Thomas also detailed what is called the "Frosty Freeze-out" in Philadelphia.

During the second half of each Sixers home game, the Wells Fargo Center encourages fans to get noisy while the other team is shooting their foul shots. If the player at the foul line misses two shots in a row, all fans in attendance are entitled to a free Frosty from Wendys the following day with their ticket.

Everybody loves a free prize, therefore, the Freeze-Out is a good method to get the crowd involved. However, the two fans who decided to take it to another level sort of ruined it for many. While the reasoning behind the fans' disrespect was comical to many afterward, all parties involved won't be laughing for too long as multiple punishments were handed out.

The two fans who started it all were issued a one-year ban from the Wells Fargo Center after their antics on Saturday night. The person who supplied them with the tickets? They lost their season-ticket seat license for good and will be refunded for the tickets they paid for this season, according to The Philly Voice's Kyle Neubeck.

As for Wizards' point guard Isaiah Thomas, he will have to serve a punishment of his own as well. While getting ejected from the game was a must, considering the NBA's rules -- it turns out the league wants to make an example out of Thomas by handing him a two-game suspension moving forward.

As expected, Thomas was not pleased with the decision. So, he voiced his displeasure on his Twitter account by sending out one word to describe his opinion on the suspension. Despite keeping his calm, Thomas was in the wrong, per NBA rules. He may not be happy about the results, but at least everybody involved will face repercussions for their mistakes.