DeMarcus Cousins at it again, fined for yelling profanity at fan
New Orleans Pelicans big man DeMarcus Cousins didn’t waste any time in gathering his first fine of the NBA season.
It’s something most NBA fans have grown accustomed to hearing; DeMarcus Cousins was fined. This time the Pelicans big will lose $25,000 for reportedly yelling an obscenity at a fan, the league announced on Saturday.
The 6-11 center was traded from Sacramento to New Orleans last February. The Pelicans finished 10th in the conference in the 2016-17 season.
The verbal run-in with the fan occurred with less than a minute left in the Pelicans 91-103 season-opening loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. A technical foul Cousins received as a result of the incident has been rescinded.
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While fines are certainly nothing new for Cousins – he was fined $50,000 in March for multiple incidents involving fans, and before that he was fined a “substantial amount” by the Kings for run-ins with reporters and media members – this is pretty quick work, even for him.
It’s hard to believe frustrations are boiling over in the first game of the season, for players or fans.
When asked what happened by reporters?
“That was pretty bogus, man,” Cousins said after the game. “The ref, he sat there and heard (the fan) speaking to me in a very nasty way. I shouldn’t have responded to it, but I’m a human being and I’m also a grown man. I’m not going to let another person just disrespect me. I felt (the ref) should have handled it, he decided not to, but he handled my end of it. I look forward to speaking to the league.”
Cousins told reporters he was responding when the fan “dropped a couple F-bombs, flipped me off.”
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While officials certainly have to protect the integrity of the league, they should also take into consideration any abusive behavior being demonstrated by fans toward the players. In a case like this, the referee probably should have had security escort the fan from the building before allowing Cousins to react.