Zach Collins had a costly outburst on the Spurs’ Friday loss against the Kings. The big man wasn’t shy about showing his anger following his ejection and has been fined $35,000 by the league for making an obscene gesture towards an official.
Collins only logged 9:26 minutes against the Kings despite starting in Victor Wembanyama’s place while the star center sat with a sore lower back. The former Trail Blazer received two technical fouls for complaining about his third foul, at the 9:07 mark in the second quarter. As he was subbed out, he continued yelling and gesturing to the official and received his first technical. Immediately after, he used profane language, got his second technical, and was ejected. Before leaving the floor, he made the gesture that was captured by the broadcast, forcing the league’s office to step in. Fortunately, he hasn’t been suspended.
The NBA has seen several instances of disrespect to officials recently, with Rockets player Fred VanVleet and Coach Ime Udoka both fined $50,000 in the past two weeks for confronting officials and using profane language. In both instances, their complaints came close to physical contact, and in Udoka’s case, he was also punished for not leaving the court in a timely manner and criticizing the officials in his post-game press conference, which explains why the sum of his fine was larger than Collins’. Ja Morant also earned a publicized ejection in the past week, which the league later admitted came as a result of a bad foul call by the referee.
Collins has always been a temperamental player and he’s clearly not alone in his gripes with this season’s officiating, but hopefully he’ll control his emotions better going forward, as it would benefit both the Spurs’ depth and his own wallet to do so.