Mavericks forward Khris Middleton has been fined $25K for “throwing his mouthpiece in the direction of the spectator stands,” the NBA announced today in a press release (Twitter link).
According to the league, the incident occurred with 6:55 remaining in the third quarter of Thursday’s game at Orlando. Middleton received a technical foul at the time, resulting in a $2K fine, on top of the $25K penalty he received today.
As Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News writes, Middleton was upset about a non-call when he turned the ball over while being defended by Jalen Suggs. He threw his mouthpiece near Dallas’ bench and it landed in front of a courtside fan before sliding toward assistant coach Jay Triano.
Middleton finished with 19 points and seven assists on Thursday, though he also had six turnovers in the one-point loss. The 34-year-old is earning $33.3MM in the final of year of his contract, so the fine won’t impact him much financially.
I was curious what the $25K fine on a $33.3M salary would convert to using my salary. It turns out the equivalent fine to me would be $0.30!
That’s crazy.