Two Los Angeles Lakers players are now feeling the wrath of the league office.
The NBA announced on Monday that Lakers guards Marcus Smart and Luke Kennard have been fined. Smart is being fined $35,000 for “questioning the integrity of the game officials,” and Kennard is being fined $20,000 for “directing inappropriate language towards game officials.”
Smart was seen on the television broadcast yelling at referee James Williams after the Lakers’ Game 4 loss to the Houston Rockets on Sunday at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas (by a final score of 115-96). It appears that Kennard was also saying something in the direction of the officiating crew within the same clip.
Marcus Smart was letting official James Williams HEAR IT postgame pic.twitter.com/F1TQsWtfsu
— LakersMuse (@LALMuse) April 27, 2026
For context, the Lakers were not pleased with the performance of the Williams-led crew during Sunday’s game. Lakers center Deandre Ayton was ejected after being given a questionable flagrant 2 foul for an elbow to Rockets counterpart Alperen Sengun in the third quarter.
AYTONpic.twitter.com/xMNBVu22lW
— (@MindOfBron) April 27, 2026
Additionally, Williams went on to eject Lakers forward Adou Thiero (along with Rockets guard Aaron Holiday) for an incident during a fourth-quarter box-out. It did not appear that Theiro did much other than standing there and saying a word or two to Holiday.
Aaron Holiday bumps into Adou Thiero in the paint, they keep talking to each other, and they both get ejected from the game, in garbage time (with replays) pic.twitter.com/7CfdGber54
— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) April 27, 2026
The Lakers are still in total control of the first-round series as they take a 3-1 lead into Game 5 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, Calif. on Wednesday. But complaints about the officiating have been commonplace for the Lakers this season, especially for Smart who already got fined by the NBA earlier in the year for flipping off the referees during a game.
