Rick Fox Gets In Physical Altercation At Campaign Event, Claims Life Was Threatened

Rick Fox is still an enforcer 22 years after retiring from the NBA -- the former hooper and actor was ready to throw hands at a campaign event this week -- after he claims death threats were hurled at him and his manager over a tent.

The chaotic scene was caught on video ... showing Fox -- who is running for office in the Bahamas -- and Carlyle Bethel in a dispute with a man over the placement of their campaign hub.

At one point, they're told they gotta move their tent elsewhere ... and when Fox asked a question about the guidelines in place, someone clapped back with an aggressive comment.

"I don't give a f*** about no rules," the man said.

That's when Fox lunged at the speaker ... and Bethel had to hold him back. The NBA champ then shoved his manager, telling him to get off of him.

Fox was clearly worked up -- going right in front of the camera, recording it all and giving a flex -- saying, "Right here for y'all, all day long."

It's a pretty messy video, so we reached out to Fox to get clarification ... and he said he was simply defending himself and his team.

"The opposition party that is in power are notorious for victimizing and bullying Bahamians," Fox said in a statement to TMZ Sports.

"But I’ve been standing up to them, and in this video, my campaign manager's life was threatened and so was mine by someone on their party as we are Advance Poll voting [Thursday]."

"I stood up to the bully no different than my basketball career when I was the enforcer," Fox continued.

"Someone threatens a teammate's life or threatens my life, I will defend to the death if necessary."

Luckily for those involved ... it didn't get to that point.