Stephen Curry knew his mouthguard toss would cost him, but he’s thankful that it didn’t cost him any time. The Golden State Warriors guard was ejected on Thursday night when he threw his mouthguard in the direction of an official late in a frustrating game against the Memphis Grizzlies.
The meltdown and subsequent ejection cost him to the tune of a $50,000 fine, the league announced on Tuesday, but there was no suspension issued for the throw. The key to the lack of suspension being that the mouthguard didn’t hit the official.
ESPN noted that the league could not determine if he was throwing at an official intentionally, or if he was just frustrated and chucking it in no direction in particular.
Either way, Curry called it an “expensive” fine in an interview with ESPN on Monday and later apologized for the incident.
“It’s an expensive mouthpiece toss,” Curry said. “At the end of the day, it’s not about the money, it’s about me not doing stupid stuff and losing my cool like that. It’s obviously a tough blow, but it’s more so about me recognizing how to handle myself on the court.”
ESPN noted that Kevin Durant was also fined an undisclosed amount after he, too, was ejected from the game. He was not suspended, either. Curry did seem pretty contrite about the whole thing, though.
As part of the same incident, Andre Iguodala has been fined $15,000 for verbally abusing a game official. Many argued that Curry deserved a one-game suspension, but the league was unable to prove he intentionally aimed to hit the referee, thus why the maximum fine.
An apologetic Curry called his actions ‘disappointing’ and ‘unacceptable.’
“It was embarrassing, and I know that,” Curry told ESPN. “I can’t do that. I know the league wants to crack down on that type of behavior and I understand why. I’ve got to be better than that.”
Considering this isn’t the first time he’s hucked a mouthguard and gotten ejected, you have to think the next time it happens he will actually miss some time.
