Anthony Edwards' latest tantrum costs him $35-K fine

Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards has been fined $35,000 by the NBA for throwing the ball into the stands and failing to leave the court promptly after his ejection during Thursday night’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers, the league announced Saturday.

The incident occurred in the third quarter of the Timberwolves’ 120-109 loss at Crypto.com Arena when Edwards, frustrated over a non-call, was hit with a double technical foul, leading to his automatic ejection. He exited the game with 18 points, six rebounds, and five assists, while no other Timberwolves player had reached double-digit scoring at the time.

Edwards’ ejection also triggered an automatic one-game suspension, as per NBA rules, after surpassing the 16-technical foul limit for the season. He sat out Minnesota’s 127-126 loss to the Utah Jazz on Friday night.

"Under NBA rules, a player or coach is automatically suspended without pay for one game once he receives his 16th technical foul during a regular season," NBA Executive Vice President Joe Dumars said in a statement. "For every two additional technical fouls received during that regular season, the player or coach will be automatically suspended without pay for an additional game."

Edwards, 23, has now been fined six times this season, mostly for using profane language in postgame interviews, bringing his total fines to $320,000. Despite vowing last month to avoid further technical fouls, he now faces increasing suspensions for every two additional infractions.

"He knows he needs to get better," Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said Thursday. "Hopefully, it's gotten to a point where it has boiled over and he learns his lesson going forward."