The NBA has fined Hawks guard Trae Young $35K for making an “inappropriate and unprofessional” gesture toward a referee in the fourth quarter of Monday’s loss to Chicago, the league announced in a press release.
With 3:58 left in the game, Young missed a three-pointer and fell to the court after bumping into Bulls forward Torrey Craig. He was called for a flopping violation and subsequently objected to the call by rubbing his fingers together in a “money” gesture, an implication the league obviously objected to.
The Hawks, who were down 120-111 at the time of the incident, lost the game by a score of 136-126.
It’s not the first time this season that Young’s behavior toward a game official has cost him some money. He was fined $25K in December for “confronting and directing inappropriate language toward a game official” while arguing a last-second non-foul call.
Of course, that $60K in fine money represents a minuscule portion of Young’s full-season salary. He has a $40,064,220 cap hit in 2023-24 and is owed nearly $138M over the next three seasons after this one.
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