Celtics star Jaylen Brown fined $25K for gesture made in win vs. Pistons
Brown made a throat-slashing gesture toward Isaiah Stewart after a dunk in the first quarter of Wednesday's game.
Jaylen Brown’s celebration from his latest highlight dunk will cost him.
The Celtics star was fined $25,000 for the gesture he made toward center Isaiah Stewart after a dunk in Wednesday’s win over the Pistons, NBA executive vice president and head of basketball operations Joe Dumars announced Friday.
In the closing seconds of the first quarter of Wednesday’s game, Brown drove to the rim and dunked while Stewart contested him at the rim. Brown took a moment to stare at Stewart before appearing to give him a throat-slashing gesture after the dunk.
The NBA called the gesture “inappropriate” in its statement announcing the fine on Friday.
Brown seemed to express remorse over the gesture when he spoke with reporters after Wednesday’s game.
“Just caught up in the moment I guess,” Brown said when asked why he gave Stewart a throat-slashing gesture. “Big play. I think that the NBA and [Players’ Association] are sensitive about the gestures and things like that. So you got to be mindful of that.”
Brown and the Celtics seemed to have issues with Stewart during Wednesday’s game. There were multiple moments where Stewart and Kristaps Porzingis had some extra pushing and shoving, causing both to receive a technical foul in the fourth quarter.
“Definitely some going back and forth,” Brown said of Stewart. “We not tolerating that this year from nobody.”
Brown likely isn’t surprised that he was fined, either.
“Oh yeah,” Brown said when asked if he expected to hear from the league.
The $25,000 fine from the NBA marks the first time in Brown’s career that he’s been assessed a fine from the league outside of the standard fine given to players when they receive a technical foul, per Spotrac.
Of course, the $25,000 fine is a relatively small sum when considering Brown’s contract. Brown’s in the first season of a five-year, $285.4 million contract, receiving a $49.2 million salary this season. So, the fine doesn’t even account for one percent of Brown’s salary this season.
Brown is in the midst of another All-Star season for Boston. After scoring 28 points in Wednesday’s win over the Pistons, Brown is 12th in the league in scoring (25.2 points per game) to go with 6.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game as he helped the Celtics get out to an 18-4 start.
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