Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves was fined by the NBA for the third time this season on Monday. This time, his infraction was “public criticism of the officiating and using inappropriate and profane language,” which cost him $75,000, the league announced.
After the Wolves’ 113-103 loss against the Golden State Warriors on Saturday, Edwards ripped officials Sean Wright and Sean Corbin. (The third official, Simone Jenks, was spared.)
“F—ing terrible, all of ’em, besides the woman,” Edwards told reporters at Target Center, via Dane Moore of the Dane Moore NBA Podcast. “But the other two dudes, terrible. Excuses, the reason they call the foul, the reason they don’t call the foul, the shit was terrible. They don’t want to talk back to my coach. They don’t want to talk back to me. I said one thing to the ref and he gave me a tech. Motherf—er told one of my teammates [that] if I would have said, ‘Y’all calling a bad foul,’ he wouldn’t have gave me a tech. …They never give us the benefit — they penalize me and [Julius Randle] for being stronger than our opponent every night. We don’t get no calls. So yeah, that’s how I feel about the officials. Every game that we play.”
Edwards continued: “Everybody keeps saying, ‘Play through it, play through it.’ It’s easy to say that when you’re not dealing with it, so that’s what’s frustrating.”
For the sake of clarification, a reporter asked if he was talking about the Warriors game specifically or if the officiating had been consistently bad all year. “Hell yeah, it’s been consistent all year,” Edwards said. “But tonight was bad. They were getting ticky-tack fouls and we weren’t getting nothing. So that’s just how I feel about the officials — the two dudes, not the woman.”
Edwards said that, because of the way games have been called, he has attacked the basket less frequently.
“That’s why,” Edwards said. “Shit, ’cause I get penalized for being stronger than my opponent. So they give them the benefit of the doubt. I get the same — they bump me the same way they bump everybody else, and I never get the calls. So I don’t know what’s gotta go down, but something gotta happen ’cause that shit is terrible.”
This latest fine comes two weeks after Edwards was fined $25,000 “for using profane language during a media interview.” Those comments were totally different in tone — he was highlighting his teammates’ “f—ing incredible” defense after a 107-90 win against the Warriors on Dec. 6.
Edwards’ first fine of the season was handed out on Nov. 17, two days after Minnesota’s 130-126 win against the Sacramento Kings. During that game, he made “an obscene gesture,” as the league put it, after getting called for a charge in the first quarter. The gesture in question was a raised middle finger, and it cost him $35,000. So Edwards has been fined $135,000 in a 15-game span.
Last season, Edwards earned a $40,000 fine for “repeatedly publicly criticizing the officiating” following a late-January game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
