Suns star Devin Booker has been fined $35K for his public criticism of the Game 2 referee crew, the NBA announced (via Twitter).
Following Wednesday’s loss, Booker was not shy in expressing his displeasure about receiving a technical foul, which he claimed was prompted by the Thunder’s Alex Caruso telling the referee to call it. While teammate Dillon Brooks‘ technical foul was rescinded after the game, per the NBA Official account (Twitter link), Booker’s was not.
“In my 11 years, I haven’t called a ref out by name, but James (Williams) was terrible tonight, through and through,” Booker said. “It’s bad for the sport, bad for the integrity of the sport. People are going to start viewing this as a WWE if they’re not held responsible.”
Suns owner Mat Ishbia backed Booker up following the game, taking to Twitter to say that while the officiating wasn’t the reason they lost, it was still unacceptable.
“If the referees are going to demand respect from the players — as they should — then the players should demand respect from the referees,” Ishbia said. “When a referee is missing calls and clearly disrespecting the players, almost mocking them, they must be held accountable.”
The league said that following video review and inquiries, they “found no basis to any claim of bias or misconduct by game officials.”
Game 3 of the first-round series between the Suns and Thunder will be Saturday.
If players are fined for honesty about the officials then the press needs to not be allowed to ask about it. This is absolutely disgusting what the league does fine players for not available to the media and the fine them when the media asks the questions they will get fined for. The league makes billions of dollars, stealing from the players is absurd. The officials are professionals that make plenty of money considering what their job is. If they do a bad job they should get criticized.
Well the fine money usually ends up going to charity but it is sad that Leagues fine players for telling the truth. And it’s getting worse by the day. If you don’t want players talking about it hire and train some decent officials. Try that.
He wasn’t lying.
You know how the old saying goes: Death, taxes, and crooked referees screwing the Suns in the playoffs.