The Oklahoma City Thunder are headed to the Western Conference Finals for the first time in almost a decade. Unfortunately one of their best players will be lighter in the wallet when they get there.
Jalen Williams was fined $25,000 by the NBA on Monday for wearing clothing with profane language on it after Oklahoma City’s 125-93 win over the Denver Nuggets in Game 7 on Sunday.
Williams sported a shirt that said “F— art, let’s dance,” on it during his post-Game 7 media availability, which docked him the five-figure fine. The NBA announced the fine via a statement from president of league operations, Byron Spruell.
Williams, whose up-and-down series was a major storyline throughout the Western Conference semifinals, saved his best performance for the decisive game. Williams had 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting with seven assists and five rebounds.
Pay The Swear Jar
To combat a rise in profanity, the NBA has been proactive in fining players and coaches who use inappropriate language in their postgame press conferences — especially over the past three seasons.
According to Sports Illustrated, Spruell sent the 30 NBA teams a memo late in 2021 that reminded them “Under league rules, team employees should be respectful in their communications, and refrain from using profane or objectionable language or gestures.â
“We’ve got to be better,” Spruell told SI in 2022. âThis is about league standards and making sure we have the right look and feel and demeanor to our game, on and off the court.
“We get the sort of element of authenticity. Weâre not trying to take that away in any of this around the game, and their expressions on and off the court. But at the same time, we do have standards that we wanted to come back to and message very hard this year.â
The NBA had seen an uptick in profanity used during media availability that season and went ahead and tried to nip it in the bud. But this season, the NBA has issued more than a dozen fines for either inappropriate language or obscene gestures either directed at officials or made during postgame interviews, including Williams’.
Anthony Edwards, Williams’ now-Western Conference Finals foe, has been fined three times this season alone for inappropriate language, including his $50,000 fine last month during the Minnesota Timberwolves‘ series against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Added Fuel
The Thunder won’t care what Williams wears to and from Paycom Center as long as he is able to play as he did in Game 7.
Williams’ struggles were the talk of the series, since the No. 2 option behind likely regular-season MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had posted three straight inefficient efforts against Denver. That included his woeful 3-for-16, six-point performance in the Nuggets’ 119-107 win in Game 6 that sent the series back to OKC.
Williams shot just 37.5 percent from the field — including his hyper-efficient Game 7 — in the series and was 10 for 43 in Games 4-6.
So the Thunder are going to need the man they call “J-Dub” to perform if they are going to get past Edwards and the Timberwolves. Minnesota is allowing the second-fewest points against per game in the playoffs (101.1) and held the Warriors to fewer than 100 points in three of their five games.
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