Spurs center Zach Collins was fined $35K for “making an obscene gesture on the playing court” after being ejected in the second quarter of Friday’s game against Sacramento, the NBA announced (via Twitter).
According to Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News, Collins became upset after being called for his third foul with 9:07 remaining in the first half. Collins disputed the call and was hit with a technical foul. He was subbed out of the game, but continued to argue with referee Michael Smith and made the obscene gesture on his way to the bench, resulting in a second technical and an automatic ejection (Twitter video link).
The Spurs were already without Victor Wembanyama, who missed the game with back pain, so the loss of Collins left them extremely thin in the middle. He played just nine minutes before the ejection, finishing with two points and two rebounds and wasn’t available to talk to reporters after the game.
“I didn’t see what was said,” interim head coach Mitch Johnson said. “We just moved on and tried to hold the fort together with the group we had.”
Those were the first technical fouls of the season for Collins, according to Spotrac, although he was fined for flopping in a November 3 game. He has amassed $59K in fines through his seven NBA seasons.
In his fourth year with San Antonio, Collins is averaging 6.0 points and 3.3 rebounds in 14.7 minutes per night while shooting 47.6% from the field and 33.3% from three-point range. He’s under contract through the end of next season.