NBA fines Devin Booker for escalating confrontation with Gorgui Dieng
Jan 24, 2019, 2:40 PM
Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (1) leaves the game after being ejected during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)
(AP Photo/Matt York)
The NBA fined Suns guard Devin Booker $25,000 on Thursday for escalating an altercation with Minnesota Timberwolves forward Gorgui Dieng in a Phoenix loss Tuesday.
Booker and Dieng exchanged words after Dieng hit Booker with an elbow. On the ensuing inbounds play, the two jawed before Booker shoved Dieng above the shoulders, leading to a scuffle. Both players were given technical fouls and ejected after a review, and security at Talking Stick Resort Arena was required to keep them separated after they agreed to meet in the tunnels of the venue.
Dieng joked after the game Tuesday that he was only trying to “exchange jerseys” with Booker after being ejected.
“He talked to me, I talked to him back,” Dieng said, according to the Associated Press. “I think he tried to hit me. Everybody could see I didn’t throw a punch. In this league a lot of guys think they are tough and they are not.”
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Booker, who left the arena without speaking to reporters after the loss on Tuesday, said Wednesday that he felt disrespected by Dieng.
“Obviously it got a little bit out of hand. That’s basketball,” the guard said. “I’m not saying anything that was said, but like I said, I keep coming back to respect. Something’s said out of line, I’ll just address the situation and say how I feel.
“I don’t care how anyone feels about my game,” he added. “It’s more of a(n) out-of-line, calling somebody out their name type of thing — respect standpoint from that point of view, off-the-court, man-to-man type of thing.”
Booker at least saved himself some money this week.
On Wednesday, he said a technical foul called on him in the first half of the game against the Timberwolves would be rescinded after officials later realized he did not have words with them from the bench.
“They (rescinded) that. They thought the first tech was mine and it wasn’t. They heard something from the bench — he wasn’t looking, he heard it from behind him,” Booker said. “I get my money back, that’s good.”
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