Warriors legend Andre Iguodala is the Executive Director of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) and says the organization will fight LaMelo Ball’s $100K fine.
Hornets star Ball said “no homo” after beating the Bucks on Saturday night in his postgame interview and was fined the maximum amount possible by the league.
On a recent appearance on a stream from Twitch star Kai Cenat, Iguodala explained why Ball’s comments were penalised so heavily.
“Yeah, you can’t say that in the NBA,” Iggy said. “Cause it’s insensitive, it’s derogatory to a group, and you know what I’m saying? Like we got a big fan base and we don’t wanna, you know what I’m saying? We wanna respectfully speak towards them and that ain’t, not them.”
Kai Cenat went on to ask him, “A hundred thousand?”
To which Iguodala replied, “Yeah, it’s a bit much. We’re going to fight that one. Don’t worry. But we can’t have guys saying at the same time. So, you can’t say it in the interview.”
Ball addressed his comments on Sunday after a loss to the Cavs, and said that he didn’t mean to cause offense.
“Before we get started, I just want to address the comment yesterday,” he told reporters. “I really didn’t mean anything [by it] and don’t want to offend anybody. I’ve got love for everybody, and I don’t discriminate.”
Hornets coach Charles Lee said he had spoken to Ball.
“As an organization, that is obviously not something we condone,” said Lee. “Our standards and what is required of our players in the environment we create is really important to us.”
“I spoke to Melo and he’s obviously very apologetic. From what I’ve seen since I’ve been around him, he loves everyone. He’s a joy to have around the facility and it’s not typically how he operates. He and I talked about the seriousness of the situation and how he needs to conduct himself going forward.”