After no call was made after Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins took down Los Angeles Lakers forward Julius Randle, head coach Luke Walton was livid.
Walton stormed the court, screaming and cussing at the officials, ultimately earning two technical fouls and his first ever ejection as head coach of the Lakers. Following the ejection, Walton continued his tirade at officials before finally leaving the court.
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Because of that Walton’s pockets are a little lighter today as the NBA fined him $15,000 according to David Aldridge of NBA.com:
League announces Lakers' Luke Walton fined $15K for verbally abusing game official/not leaving the court in a timely manner after ejection.
— David Aldridge (@daldridgetnt) December 14, 2016
Had Walton left the floor immediately after his two technical fouls, he probably wouldn’t have been fined, or at least the fine would have been less. His continued actions, however, are what cost him some money.
After the game Walton simply said that he was defending his players, something that Julius Randle loved. Unfortunately for Walton, his tirade didn’t lead to a Lakers victory as the team fell apart in the second half of their 116-92 loss to the Kings.
Walton is known as a very calm, relaxed coach so seeing him explode in the manner that he did was pretty surprising. It is proof, however, of the relationship that Walton has with his players and why the team loves him as their coach.
The team plays extremely hard for Walton on a nightly basis because they know he has their backs and Walton showed that on Monday. He may be cool and calm most of the time, but Walton can get fired up when it’s necessary and he felt that was the case in that moment.