Charlotte Hornets point guard LaMelo Ball has been fined for comments made in a postgame interview following a win against the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday.
Being interviewed on-court by FanDuel Sports Network Southeast, Ball answered a question by saying “We loaded up. No homo. But that’s what we wanted.”
According to ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania, the league has fined Ball $100,000 for “offensive and derogatory comments” during the interview.
It’s certainly not the first time Ball has been unfiltered during a postgame interview. A couple years ago, the young guard dropped a slew of f-bombs during a courtside interview. Then almost a year ago to the day, Ball got a little NSFW talking about his favorite Thanksgiving foods in a postgame interview.
Of course, this situation is a bit different than some innocent expletives. This time around, Ball made comments that the league deemed offensive and derogatory. Notably, in 2018, Nuggets star big man Nikola Jokić made similar comments during a courtside interview. He was fined $25,000 by the league.
Clearly there is precedent to fine players in these circumstances, but the amount each player was fined seems a bit out-of-balance. Perhaps the league is taking a harder line on such language in 2024 than they were in 2018.
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About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.