Iguadola fined $10,000 for racial comments
Warrior says he regrets the timing of his statements
OAKLAND, Calif. — For the first time since his racially-charged, controversial postgame comments in Minneapolis late Friday night, Golden State’s Andre Iguodala spoke with gathered reporters at the team’s Monday afternoon practice in Oakland.
Iguodala didn’t backtrack, but expressed regret at the timing of the comments and who they were perceived to be directed toward. Iguodala said the n-word three times and then, when asked about Steve Kerr’s decision to rest him and others in San Antonio the next night, Iguodala said “I just do what master say.”
There was an immediate backlash. He was fined $10,000 by the NBA on Monday.
“It probably was the wrong time to express myself,” Iguodala said minutes before the fine was announced. “We all have our own opinions. We all have our own feelings. I feel like we’re entitled to them. We just try to pick and choose the time to do it and who you share it with. Because some may not understand where you’re coming from, which is to be expected. I feel like it’s the wrong time because it puts my team in the situation and my coaching staff in that situation. I have a great relationship with Steve Kerr. And he knows that. He spoke to you guys about it. But Steve in his words still may not be … someone still may not believe him. But he and I are in a great place. We don’t even have to speak about it because in no way shape or form was I talking about him.”
Kerr has twice been questioned about it since Friday. He said he discussed the situation with Iguodala, wanted to keep that conversation private but didn’t take exception to what was said.
“He wasn’t talking about me,” Kerr said. “I wasn’t the slightest bit offended. As I mentioned the other night, he has a very cryptic sense of humor. The only thing I’d say, there’s certain humorous things you should say in the sanctity of the locker room and there’s certain humorous things you might want to keep from the media. That was one of them and he knows that.”
Iguodala didn’t seem concerned about those who were offended by the comments.
“I talked about that with my wife as far as what the word offends means,” he said. “Because I think I offended someone when I went to the golf course yesterday. You know what I mean? Because I took a rest, rested the last game in San Antonio and I feel like someone is offended that I went to play golf. We kind of live in a world right now that our team is so much in a spotlight and such a microscope on us as players that any move can offend someone. So you can’t live life not trying to offend someone.”
Monday’s games
SPURS 107, HAWKS 99: In San Antonio, Kawhi Leonard scored 31 points in his return from a concussion and the Spurs tied Golden State for the NBA’s best record with a victory over Atlanta.
San Antonio made a season-high 16 3-pointers in its 19th straight home victory over Atlanta. The Spurs and Warriors are 52-14 with 16 games remaining, including the final regular-season matchup between them on March 29.
Atlanta point guard Dennis Schroder had 22 points and 10 assists, shooting 10 for 22 from the field. Tim Hardaway Jr. added 17 points, but the Hawks had their three-game winning streak snapped.
JAZZ 114, CLIPPERS 108: In Salt Lake City, Gordon Hayward scored 27 points and Utah broke a nine-game home losing streak to the Clippers.
BULLS 115, HORNETS 109: In Charlotte, N.C., Nikola Mirotic scored 24 points, Rajon Rondo had a season-high 20 in his return to the starting lineup and Chicago snapped a season-high, five-game losing streak. RAPTORS 100, MAVERICKS 78: In Toronto, DeMar DeRozan scored 25 points, Norman Powell added 19 and the Raptors beat Dallas, their third straight victory over the Mavericks. Jonas Valanciunas had 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Raptors. GRIZZLIES 113, BUCKS 93: In Memphis, Tenn., Vince Carter made all eight of his shots, including six from beyond the arc, to score a season-high 24 points and lead Memphis past Milwaukee. TIMBERWOLVES 119, WIZARDS 104: In Minneapolis, Karl-Anthony Towns had 39 points and 13 rebounds, Ricky Rubio scored 22 points and broke his own franchise record with 19 assists, and Minnesota beat Washington.