When does a heckle become a racial taunt?

When does harmless fan heckling become racist taunting?

We may find out.

The Cavaliers are investigating an incident Sunday night in Cleveland when a fan is alleged to have yelled a racially insensitive pejorative at Spurs guard Patty Mills while he was shooting free throws.

Mills replied to a fan's video post on Twitter in which the fan's heckling can be heard.

The fan twice yelled "Hey, Mills, Jamaica called, they want their bobsledder back."

No players on the floor, including LeBron James, reacted to the comments, at least that were visible on the telecast.

Mills is a native of Australia who father is a Torres Strait Islander, and his mother is an Aboriginal Australian, according to ESPN.

"I am a proud Islander. Like my Jamaican Brothers, me & my family in the islands of the Torres Strait have experienced racial slurs for decades," Mills posted on Twitter to the person who tweeted the video. "Hope your efforts will enlighten this confused, hateful fan."

The fan's bobsledder comment is likely to be a reference to the Jamaica National Bobsled team, which first competed in the 1988 Winter Olympics. The film Cool Runnings was loosely based on the team and released in 1993. The fan may have attempted to conflate Mills' dreadlocks hairstyle with one of the characters from the film.

This story was originally published February 26, 2018 at 5:57 PM with the headline "When does a heckle become a racial taunt?."