League Fines Fred VanVleet for Comments on Officials

NBA 3-Point Contest - Fred VanVleet

Fred VanVleet is the latest player to be fined by the NBA. After Wednesday’s loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, the All-Star point guard did not mince words about Ben Taylor and his crew’s officiating. During the postgame press conference, VanVleet had this to say:

I thought Ben Taylor was f—ing terrible tonight. I think that on most nights, you know out of the three [officials], there’s one or two that just f— the game up. It’s been like that a couple of games in a row. [Losing on Monday at] Denver was tough, obviously. You come out tonight, competing pretty hard and I get a bulls— tech that changes the whole dynamic of the game, changed the whole flow of the game. Most of the refs are trying hard. I like a lot of the refs, they’re trying hard, they’re pretty fair and communicate well. And then you got the other ones who just want to be a d— and just kind of f—s the game up. … And no one’s coming to see that s—. They come to see the players.”

Fred VanVleet Fined $30k by the NBA

Fred VanVleet and Toronto’s Recent Troubles With NBA Officials

The Raptors were also victim to questionable officiating from Scott Foster and his crew in a tough loss to the Denver Nuggets. The team had the lead for a good portion of the game until the fourth quarter. After a questionable call, guard, Scottie Barnes, was ejected for saying something to head official, Scott Foster. This is understandably frustrating for the Raptors as they are trying to make a late-season push to at least get in the play-in tournament.

Can the Raptors Make a Late-Season Push?

The team is currently sitting at the ninth spot in the Eastern Conference with a 32-35 win-loss record. They are 2.5 games back of the Atlanta Hawks. However, Raptors fans can take solace in the fact that Pascal Siakam is playing some of the best basketball of his career and have a great coach in Nick Nurse. If there is any potential play-in team in the Eastern Conference that contenders should be wary of, it is none other than the team up north. Some of their games they have coming up include the Los Angeles Lakers, a rematch with the Denver Nuggets, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Minnesota Timberwolves. All of these are very winnable games for the Raptors. As a result, a play-in spot is still very much in play for them.

 


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