Suns guard Devin Booker was fined $35,000 by the NBA for criticizing officials after Phoenix's 120-107 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
The league announced the fine Thursday, saying that it found "no basis to any claim of bias or misconduct by game officials."
Booker expressed displeasure with the officiating in Game 2 and singled out referee James Williams, saying he was "terrible tonight through and through."
"It's bad for the sport, bad for the integrity of the sport. People are going to start viewing this as a WWE if they're not held responsible," Booker said after the loss, which gave the Thunder a 2-0 series lead. "It just feels disrespectful. I know I haven't won a championship in this league, but I have been in it for 11 years now. So to get to this point to be treated like that, for me to even be saying something out loud, it's bad."
In announcing Booker's fine, the NBA also said that a technical foul that was called against him in the third quarter was "improperly assessed" and would be rescinded.
Booker was particularly irked by the technical after the loss, saying he never received an explanation for why it was assessed. The technical was called by referee JB DeRosa after Booker, who appeared to prevent an out-of-bounds infraction, threw a pass that hit Oklahoma City's Jaylin Williams. Williams was called for a foul on the play for bumping Booker, knocking him out of bounds.
Oklahoma City's Alex Caruso lobbied for Booker to receive a technical before it was called.
Booker was well aware that his criticism of the officials would put him in jeopardy of being fined by the league office, a price he considered worth paying.
"This is my first time in 11 years, but it's needed," Booker said Wednesday. "Whatever I get fined for it, everybody can pull the clips and see where the frustration is from."
