Fred VanVleet is being disciplined for his latest anti-officiating crusade.
The Houston Rockets guard VanVleet was ejected from Saturday’s loss to the Portland Trail Blazers after going on a profane outburst against the three officials who were working the game. Upon being called for an offensive foul in the final seconds of the fourth quarter with the game already decided, VanVleet pointed at and directed profanity towards each of the three referees. As a result, he got ejected on the spot.
You can watch the video of the incident below (but obviously beware of the bad language).
LEAKED Audio Of Fred Vanvleet Cursing At The Refs:
“You suck, you f*cking suck, and you suck!”
Then, he pointed at the ref that ejected him and said:
“B*tch a** n****, you a b*tch” pic.twitter.com/AhAazbI9dj
— LegendZ (@legendz_nba) November 24, 2024
On Monday, the NBA announced that VanVleet was being fined $50,000 for the outburst. The release stated that the fine was for VanVleet “confronting and directing profane language” towards the officials (though VanVleet notably was not suspended for his actions).
Houston lost the game to Portland 104-98, but they are still an excellent 12-6 on the season (third in the West). VanVleet finished the game with just eight points but is averaging 14.5 points and 6.1 assists per game overall.
The former All-Star VanVleet is no stranger to getting punished by the NBA for his actions against referees. Last year, VanVleet was also fined for going after an official with profanity (though that was in a postgame interview and was directed at just one referee in particular).
