The NBA has fined Timberwolves All-Star guard Anthony Edwards $50K for his use of “profane language” during a postgame interview, the league announced in a press statement (via Twitter).
Edwards uttered the offending language (Twitter video link) after Minnesota fell in a 114-88 Game 1 blowout road loss against the Thunder on Tuesday. He and three-time All-Star Timberwolves power forward Julius Randle were fielding reporters’ questions in a tandem appearance and Edwards bemoaned the fact that he “only took 13 f—ing shots” in Game 1.
After a competitive first quarter-and-a-half, Oklahoma City clamped down defensively and started heating up on the other end in the second half. Edwards, 23, had a fairly modest-for-him scoring night in Game 1, while being deftly covered by a flurry of Thunder wings. He scored just 18 points on 5-of-13 shooting from the field, plus 5-of-7 shooting from the foul line.
Edwards was fined several times by the league over the course of the season for various transgressions, including repeatedly using profane language during media interviews.
He was docked $320K for six separate incidents prior to the playoffs, and that total doesn’t include the $242K he lost as a result of a one-game suspension or the smaller fines automatically assessed for each of his league-leading 17 technical fouls. He was also fined $50K for an exchange with a Lakers fan in round one.
Self control is key.
What constitutes a winner and what constitutes a loser in sports? Is it as simple as the win-loss equation, or is there a behavioral piece to it? None of us will sit down to supper with Edwards or have him as a neighbor, so what any of us might feel about how he conducts himself in an interview probably says more about our values than his. Is he forthright or tedious, juvenile or dashing?
Emotional replies don’t help you feel better they expose you. Talk sports, don’t talk with feelings. Not everything is about you.
I was wondering the same exact thing. Shouldn’t this headline be about how he overcame the newly crowned MVP in a hard-fought game 1 and brought his team one game closer to a title? Instead it’s just another fine, another excuse, another loss. Forget the face of the league he is starting to represent the other end…
Tedious juvenile
I love Ant. He’s unapologetic about who he is, and he doesn’t give boring scripted answers. I can see that not everyone agrees, and that’s okay. But I’d rather root for a guy who gets too emotional after a loss than someone like Brunson who doesn’t look like he is having fun playing the game and can’t do a postgame interview without talking about how hard he works.
The ‘unsportsman like’ technical of Edwards in game one and the way McDaniels simply pushed the Mr.MVP off his feet late in game two shows how frustrating it must be to be dealing with the wobbly SGA where he’s CONSTANTLY looking for the slightest reason to loose his balance. Unlike Edwards who plays hard on both ends.
I hope the Wolves find some sort of an answer to SGA but after the first two games not sure what that might be :/ Perhaps they’ll be able to find their footing at home and carry it through? Hope so. Minnesota plays hard.