Trae Young is not exactly having the best month of December.
The Atlanta Hawks star Young was fined this week by the NBA over an incident at the end of Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bulls. Hawks teammate A.J. Griffin converted an impossible buzzer-beater with just 0.5 seconds on the clock in overtime to give Atlanta the dramatic 123-122 win.
AJ GRIFFIN AT THE BUZZER AGAIN 😱 pic.twitter.com/CTvdPedfZU
— FanDuel Sports Network South (@FanDuelSN_SO) December 12, 2022
Immediately after Griffin’s shot went through the net, Young took the ball and lobbed it into the crowd in celebration. For that, he was fined $25,000.
The NBA has fined Trae Young $25,000 for throwing the ball into the stands at the end of last night's Hawks-Bulls game.pic.twitter.com/MZKZBCm2Bm
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) December 12, 2022
The All-Star Young responded to the fine with a vulgar tweet on Monday.
“Sorry to the hawks fan(s) who got a chance to touch the game winning ball,” wrote Young. “Didn’t know I couldn’t do that. Can’t Celebrate s–t anymore” (profanity edited by LBS).
Young’s fine does come across as a bit lame since it was a spur-of-the-moment reaction immediately after a massive game-winning shot by his team. But it is ultimately a necessary evil as the NBA tries to keep fans safe. During a different game over the weekend, another player was punished for punching the ball into the stands.
As for Young himself, it has been a pretty rough last couple of weeks. Earlier this month, Young had an incident with Hawks head coach Nate McMillan that he took a whole lot of heat for.
