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Here is the exchange:

Smith: “Look who’s in.”

Lawler: “Hamed Haddadi. Where’s he from?”

Smith: “He’s the first Iranian to play in the NBA.” (Smith pronounced Iranian as “Eye-ranian,” a pronunciation that offended the viewer who complained.)

Lawler: “There aren’t any Iranian players in the NBA,” repeating Smith’s mispronunciation.

Smith: “He’s the only one.”

Lawler: “He’s from Iran?”

Smith: “I guess so.”

Lawler: “That Iran?”

Smith: Yes.

Lawler: “The real Iran?”

Smith: “Yes.”

Lawler: “Wow. Haddadi – that’s H-A-D-D-A-D-I.”

Smith: “You’re sure it’s not Borat’s older brother?”

Smith: “If they ever make a movie about Haddadi, I’m going to get Sacha Baron Cohen to play the part.”
Lawler: “Here’s Haddadi. Nice little back-door pass. I guess those Iranians can pass the ball.”

Smith: “Especially the post players.

Lawler: “I don’t know about their guards.”

Many of the Clippers did not know about the suspension of veteran play-by-play announcer Ralph Lawler and analyst Michael Smith until after Friday's victory against the Nuggets.

The two missed the Denver game -- having been suspended one game by Fox -- because of comments made during Wednesday's telecast about Hamed Haddadi of the Memphis Grizzlies. Some knew beforehand when asked about it by reporters but declined comment.

"Yeah, I just found out," Baron Davis said in the locker room afterward. "But it is a business. If they offended somebody, I'm sure they didn't do it on purpose. It was nothing they did on purpose. We stick by them. They're great people. They're family men. And I think it was just an unfortunate situation. But we'd love to see them on the sideline."

Lisa Dillman, The Fabulous Forum/LA Times

“He doesn’t speak a whole lot of English, so we had his manager translate for us,” Lawler added. “He basically indicated that he’s seen a number of our shows and thought that some people kind of took what we said out of context. He understood there were no ill intentions and understood our humor.”

By sheer coincidence, Sunday was Iranian Heritage day.

“I think it’s very fitting,” Lawler said. “He said he’s got a gift for us that the manager was going to bring to us later, just as a token of the good will that exists. So I couldn’t be more pleased. I’m glad to finally put it behind us.”

Last Monday, when he and Smith returned to the microphones, Lawler spoke at the top of the broadcast about how much the duo regretted the remarks and the firestorm it created.

“He’s totally aware,” Lawler said of Haddadi. “He had read the transcript, he had seen the video and was perfectly fine with it.”

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