Anthony Edwards has been fined $100,000 by the NBA for profane language used in a postgame interview on Friday after the Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the Houston Rockets, 113-112. Edwards made a 3-point shot that turned out to be the game-winner in the final 30 seconds, and in his postgame interview, he used the word “s—” twice and “f—” once.
“The play was for [Julius Randle] to go 14 — big-small pick and roll,” Edwards said. “Once he picked it up, who else? I gotta go get it. S—. Nickeil [Alexander-Walker] found me, he cut me off. I’m like, ‘s—, I’m goin for the win’. Like Gilbert Arenas said, I don’t do overtime, so f— it.”
This fine is notable because it is Edwards’ second in less than a week. On Dec. 23, he was fined $75,000 for profane language used while criticizing officials.
“They’re f—— terrible. All of them, besides the woman,” Edwards said after a loss to the Golden State Warriors. “But the other two dudes, terrible. Excuses as reasons they don’t call a foul, the reason they don’t call a foul. The s– was terrible. They don’t wanna talk back to my coach, talk back to me. I said one thing to the ref and he gave me a tech.”
The fine announcement on Sunday noted that the level of Edwards’ punishment on Sunday was based on recent events: “The fine amount is based in part on Edwards’ history of using profane language during media interviews,” the league wrote.
These two incidents weren’t the only ones in which Edwards swore when giving interviews to the media.
“We don’t have s— on offense,” Edwards said earlier this season after a loss to the New York Knicks. “We don’t have no identity. We know I’m gonna shoot a bunch of shots, we know [Julius Randle] gonna shoot a bunch of shots, and that’s all we know.”
Once you factor in the $35,000 fine Edwards picked up in November for giving a fan the middle finger, he has now been fined $210,000 on the season if you don’t include the standard $2,000 fines that come with technical fouls. While Edwards is lauded for his honesty in dealing with the press, the NBA seemingly wants him to do so in a less profane manner.
