After the Warriors loss to the Timberwolves on Friday night, Andre Iguodala had some racially-charged post-game comments that became a topic of conversation around the league. On Monday, Iguodala received a fine from the NBA for those inflammatory remarks.
“Golden State Warriors forward Andre Iguodala has been fined $10,000 for making inappropriate comments during a postgame media interview,” read the league’s announcement.
In his post-game media availability late on Friday, Iguodala said “they want dumb n—-s, so I’m going to give y’all a dumb n—-,” and then proceeded to say “change gone come,” and “I do what master say,” when asked about the Warriors benching their starters on Saturday. Despite trying to clear up that he wasn’t meaning to say anything derogatory towards coach Steve Kerr, the comments got play all over, including during Saturday’s ESPN broadcast of the Warriors-Spurs game.
The NBA levying a $10,000 fine on Iguodala shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, considering thee remarks got so much negative attention. Iguodala has long been one of the league’s most thought-provoking speakers and usually when he chooses to speak out, his point is well made and well thought out. That didn’t seem to be the case on Friday night as whatever Iguodala was going for with his comments didn’t seem to land with, well, anyone.
Iguodala won’t stop talking and won’t stop speaking out when he feels something is amiss in the NBA or in the world, but this time, whatever his message was supposed to be, it cost him $10,000.
Update: Iguodala spoke on Monday afternoon with the media (just prior to the announcement of the fine) and elaborated on his comments, as transcribed by Anthony Slater of the Bay Area News Group.
“It was probably the wrong time to express myself,” said Iguodala about his comments. “We all have our own opinions, we all have our own feelings. I feel like we’re entitled to them. … I feel like it’s the wrong time because it puts my team in the situation and my coaching staff in that situation. I have a great relationship with Steve Kerr. And he knows that. He spoke to you guys about it. …
“I like to have fun with you guys. I shouldn’t say fun. I like to play mind games with you guys,” Iguodala said when asked if it was a joke on the media. “But it still doesn’t take away how someone may feel. A lot of guys may feel a certain way, but they don’t know how to express it. I may have chosen the wrong way to express it. That’s my personal way at getting back at you guys a little bit.”
It wasn’t really an apology from Iguodala, more of an understanding that his comments might have come across poorly to some. If Iguodala was trying to just mess with the media as insinuated, he might want to choose a slightly different approach that won’t cost him any money next time.
