NEW YORK (AP) — Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards was fined $40,000 by the NBA on Tuesday for homophobic comments he made on social media.
The league announced the punishment for Edwards’ use of “offensive and derogatory language” in a since-deleted Instagram video he later apologized for.
Edwards recorded a group of men on a sidewalk from a vehicle he was inside and could be heard in making a disparaging, profane comment about what he assumed to be their sexual orientation. He posted an apology on Twitter soon after, and the Timberwolves issued a statement reprimanding their young star
“What I said was immature, hurtful, and disrespectful, and I’m incredibly sorry. It’s unacceptable for me or anyone to use that language in such a hurtful way,” Edwards tweeted last week. “There’s no excuse for it, at all. I was raised better than that!”
Nikola Jokic, Kevin Durant, Rajon Rondo and Kobe Bryant are among the NBA players who’ve been disciplined by the league in the past for anti-gay language.
The first overall pick in the 2020 draft, Edwards was Minnesota’s second-leading scorer last season with an average of 21.3 points per game that ranked 19th in the league. His average of 1.5 steals per game was 13th in the NBA.
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