NBA fines Knicks' Julius Randle $40K for 'hostile language' towards ref

The NBA has fined Knicks power forward Julius Randle to the tune of $40K after he used “hostile language” against a referee during a 108-93 home defeat to the Jazz, it has announced today (via Twitter).

Fred Katz of The Athletic tweets that this will be Randle’s fifth fine from the NBA this season, totaling $155K in all. Due to being dinged by 11 technical foul penalties as well, Randle has lost another $29K. That figure should not make much of a dent in Randle’s current $21.8M salary for this season. Randle inked a lucrative four-year contract extension with the Knicks during the 2021 offseason that will be worth between $106.4M and a shade more than $122M depending on certain incentives.

The Knicks announced (Twitter link) earlier today that Randle is set to miss the club’s contest this evening against the visiting Hawks with a sore right quadriceps tendon. It is unclear if that ailment will sideline him long beyond that.

Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News writes that an absence for Randle will allow second-year power forward Obi Toppin, the eighth pick in the 2020 NBA draft out of Dayton and a Brooklyn native, to get significantly more run time.

The 24-year-old is currently logging just 14.8 MPG across 61 contests this season for the 30-41 Knicks. Bondy notes that he has shown plenty of promise with his significant foot speed, but has remains a less-than-stellar defender or long-range shooter. Bondy notes that Toppin has not suited up for more than 20 minutes in a Knicks contest since February.