The NBA has come down hard on Charlotte Hornets star LaMelo Ball for his ‘no homo’ comment in a postgame interview, slapping him with a $100,000 fine. Ball made the comment after a 115-114 win over the Milwaukee Bucks at Spectrum Center on Saturday, and it has been termed “offensive and derogatory” by the league.
“Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball has been fined $100,00 for making an offensive and derogatory comment in a postgame interview, it was announced today by Joe Dumas, Executive Vice President, Head of Basketball Operations.”
In case you missed it, Ball said it when sideline reporter Shannon Spake asked him about the Hornets’ defense on Giannis Antetokounmpo on the final play of the game.
“We loaded up, no homo, but that’s what we wanted with the hand up and then live with the results,” Ball said.
(starts at 0:29 mark):
You knew right away that Ball was going to be in trouble for saying what is viewed as an anti-gay term. It appears the 23-year-old might not have seen it coming, though. Less than half an hour after the league announced on Sunday that Ball had been fined, he posted this on X.
“Hol up pause dat…”
Whether that was Ball reacting to the fine or not, he later made it clear he realized he had made a mistake. After the Hornets’ 128-114 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Sunday, he told reporters he wasn’t trying to offend anyone.
“Before we get started, I just want to address the comment yesterday,” Ball said. “I really didn’t mean anything [by it] and don’t want to offend anybody. I’ve got love for everybody, and I don’t discriminate.”
Hornets head coach Charles Lee also commented on the situation before the game against the Cavaliers. Lee stated the organization doesn’t consider the one-time All-Star’s comment to be acceptable and revealed he was very apologetic about it.
“As an organization, that’s obviously not something that we condone,” Lee said. “Our standards and what is required of our players in our environment that we create is really important to us. I spoke to Melo and he’s obviously very apologetic from what I’ve seen since I’ve been around him.
“He loves everyone and he’s a joy to have around in the facility, and that’s not typically how he operates,” Lee continued. “He and I talked about the seriousness of the situation and how he needs to conduct himself going forward, he understands what’s going to be expected of him. I look forward to seeing him grow from this moment.”
Lee also stated that the Hornets apologize for Ball’s comment.
“He and I talked about it and he definitely said, ‘Going forward, I want to be better and I don’t want to see that happen.’ So, for somebody to use those words and say it out of his mouth, we will make sure that we hold him accountable to that,” Lee added.
Ball, who is averaging 29.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, 6.7 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.2 blocks per game in 2024-25, undoubtedly has to be better moving forward. This is his fifth season in the NBA after being drafted with the third pick of the 2020 Draft and you’d expect him to be a bit more mature at this point.
Players cursing or making inappropriate comments during interviews has become a bit more common than you’d like nowadays. Former NBA player Evan Turner isn’t happy about that and sent out a message on X on Sunday.
“I might sound like an old head but the excessive language in postgame interviews is starting to get tacky.
12-year-olds carelessly use curse words lol. We as athletes are smart enough to articulate ourselves for 3 mins without cursing.
It ain’t cute or wavy lol. And this is coming from me.”
It is indeed not that hard to keep it clean during a short interview. I don’t think Turner is asking too much of today’s players there but I don’t expect the cursing to completely go away.
As for the ‘no homo’ comment, it’s not something players say all that often. The last time it happened was in 2023 when Cam Thomas commented about the Brooklyn Nets adding good-looking players at the trade deadline. The league slapped Thomas with a $40,000 fine for saying it, which is less than half of what Ball got. I suppose the NBA is trying to send a message with it.
Funnily enough, Ball and Thomas will be facing off next, as the 5-8 Hornets take on the 5-9 Nets at Barclays Center in an NBA Cup game on Tuesday at 7:30 PM ET.
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