Washington Wizards guard John Wall has been fined $15,000 for being involved in a scuffle with Boston Celtics forward Jae Crowder.
Off the court, John Wall can be described as “chill.”
He’s often seen posted up inside of the Washington Wizards‘ locker room listening to tunes on his headphones. After practices, when the team becomes relaxed, Wall goofs off with his teammates and is seemingly always the one cracking the jokes.
But on the court, Wall often becomes emotional, sometimes to a fault.
Currently, Wall is one of the league’s leaders in technical fouls.
The team’s inconsistencies haven’t helped his emotions, either. Even when they’re winning, Wall takes it upon himself to get the crowd in the game by shouting towards those in attendance, just as most passionate players do.
On Wednesday night against the Boston Celtics, Wall was matched up against a set of personalities who share his character traits.
Historically, the Celtics have been known to get underneath their opponent’s skin.
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That much hasn’t changed.
The likes of Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder and Marcus Smart are similar to Wall because they all carry themselves as relaxed individuals off the court, but flip the switch occasionally on the hardwood.
Their personalities clashed on Wednesday and it resulted in one of the most scrappy contests the Washington Wizards have been a part of this season.
Both Wall and Bradley Beal got into a few skirmishes during the game, but unfortunately, that didn’t end once the final buzzer sounded.
Once the game was over, Crowder approached Wall, almost as if to congratulate him for competing all night, just as most teams typically do after games.
But their meeting quickly escalated, as Crowder got into Wall’s face, who’s notorious for not backing down, no matter how big the potential foe (including 7-foot-3 Zydrunas Ilgauskas).
Crowder appeared to put his finger on Wall’s nose, who retaliated by putting his hand on Crowder’s face. The incident was too minor to call it a slap, I believe.
Wall, who anticipated a fine, was hit with exactly that on Saturday.
According to Chase Hughes of CSN Mid-Atlantic, Wall was fined $15,000 for his involvement in the incident, while Crowder was fined $25,000 for playing the instigator.
"John Wall said himself that he expected to earn a “fat fine” from the NBA for his involvement in Wednesday’s postgame altercation with the Celtics, and that’s exactly what he got. The NBA docked Wall $15,000 on Saturday, the league announced in a press release."
The NBA usually doesn’t tolerate physical contact, so it’s not surprising that both players were punished for their actions.
Surprisingly, however, neither player will be facing a suspension. Given that the incident occurred after the game was over, one would think that the league would come down harder on both players.
Next: John Wall Will Play Through Pain - and That's a Problem
Luckily for both teams, neither player will be missing any game action.