NBA fines Knicks $25,000 over Julius Randle media snub
FILE–Julius Randle #30 of the New York Knicks. Sarah Stier/Getty Images/AFP
The NBA fined the New York Knicks $25,000 on Friday for failing to make Julius Randle available to the media after the Knicks’ 102-91 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.
The league’s statement said the Knicks were fined “for violating league rules governing media interview access.”
Randle scored just four points in Thursday’s defeat. He was just one of the Knicks starters to struggle, with teammates Evan Fourier and Kemba Walker combining for 11 points.
But it was another low point for Randle, who was fined $25,000 by the league this month for using profanity when explaining why he gave a “thumbs down” signal to home spectators who were booing the Knicks in a game against Boston which New York eventually won.
Asked about the gesture, Randle told reporters in an expletive-enlivened fashion he made the gesture to tell the fans to shut up.
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He later apologized on Instagram, saying he “should have handled things differently.”
Randle was again the focus of fans’ derision after a two-point performance in a Knicks victory over the San Antonio Spurs last week.
Since then he had averaged 20 points in four games against Atlanta, Dallas, Charlotte and Minnesota, but on Thursday he was again booed and didn’t stick around to take media questions after the game.
