Anthony Edwards fined $35,000 by NBA for giving Sacramento fan middle finger

Anthony Edwards told a fan in Sacramento how he felt about an obscene gesture on Friday. That middle finger cost the Minnesota Timberwolves star $35,000. The NBA announced the fine on Sunday.

As the NBA’s memo explained, Edwards drew on a fan in the first quarter of Friday’s 130-126 Timberwolves win over the Kings.

Photographers captured the action in question quite clearly. The image is likely to appear frequently in disagreements all over social media.

No word on what may have prompted this reaction from Edwards, but comments from Minnesota assistant coach Corliss Williamson apparently motivated him to be aggressive in the game.

“Corliss, my coach, told me I’ve been playing ‘soft’ for 11, 12 games,” Edwards told reporters. “So I told him yesterday that I was going to pound one of their asses. So when I did, I just looked at him.”

The recipient of Edwards’ pass was Domantas Sabonis, who was dunked on in the third quarter.

“It felt good,” Edwards said after watching a clip of the dunk.

Edwards finished with 36 points and shot 6 for 14 from 3-point range. He leads the NBA in 3-pointers with 64.

However, that performance was overshadowed by De’Aaron Fox, who exploded for 60 points, a Kings franchise record. Sacramento needed Fox to carry the team with Malik Monk and DeMar DeRozan out with injuries.

Edwards scored Minnesota’s final six points in regulation to force overtime and added seven more in overtime to lead the Timberwolves to victory and a 1-1 record in the West Group A standings for the season NBA Cup Tournament. Minnesota snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 7-6 overall.

This is not the first major fine Edwards has been issued by the NBA. Last season, he was paid $40,000 for criticizing officials and saying the Timberwolves “played 8-on-5” in a win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.