Devin Booker is being disciplined for his post-game comments on Wednesday.
The Phoenix Suns star is being fined $35,000 for public criticism of the officiating, the league announced Thursday.
Booker ripped the officials following the Suns’ Game 2 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder for a technical foul he received.
“It’s definitely something that has to be looked into. I heard Caruso tell them to call the tech, and he ended up doing it,” Booker said at the podium with teammate Jalen Green flanking him. “In my 11 years, I haven’t called a ref out by name, but James was terrible tonight, through and through.”
“It’s bad for the sport, bad for the integrity of the sport. People are going to start viewing this as the WWE if they’re not held responsible.”
Booker was referring to a strange technical foul he picked up with just a little over two minutes to play in the third quarter, when he appeared to be trying to save a ball from going out of bounds and inadvertently ended up throwing it off Thunder forward Jaylin Williams, causing Alex Caruso to request the referee to hand Booker a technical foul, which was obliged.
The technical has now been rescinded by the NBA because it was improperly assessed, the league announced.
The Suns trail the Thunder 2-0 in their first-round series. Game 3 will take place in Phoenix on Saturday.