In what was clearly a moment of frustration after getting ejected, Charlotte Hornets forward Miles Bridges thought it would be a good idea to throw his mouthpiece into the crowd at the end of their play-in loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night. It was a bad decision.
The NBA announced today that Bridges will be fined $50K for his actions, which he later apologized for.
Ouch. Though to be fair, it was a disgusting act from Bridges. No one wants to be hit anywhere with someone else’s mouthpiece. I’m not sure what Bridges hoped to accomplish by targeting a basketball fan with something that was in his mouth, but it was very stupid.
Miles Bridges contract: $5.42 million in 2021-22 season
His day from losing the play-in, not getting a chance at his first taste of playoff basketball, and getting ejected was likely bad enough, this just adds insult to injury. But he did it to himself. Still, Bridges won’t be any worse for the wear.
Hopefully, the next time Bridges gets upset after an ejection he doesn’t choose to take his anger out on anyone else. This time he happened to directly hit a young woman in the side of her head, and it cost him $50K, rightfully so. Maybe it was the added pressure of trying to reach the playoffs, as we saw in other games during the play-in, tensions were high.
He’ll have all offseason to think about a better approach next time, where Bridges has come back much improved over the previous year in his previous experience. Maybe this bitter taste will only provide more motivation to take his game up yet another notch in 2022.
Related: NBA hits Minnesota Timberwolves guard Patrick Beverley with $30k, his second fine this week