Nets fined $25K reportedly for sitting Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and 6 others in win over Pacers
The NBA fined the Brooklyn Nets $25,000 on Thursday for “failing to comply with league policies governing injury reporting” reportedly stemming from sitting eight players on Saturday against the Indiana Pacers.
The following was released by the NBA. pic.twitter.com/k8vsw8Yczi
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) December 15, 2022
Though the league didn’t get into specifics when announcing the fine, it came after the Nets were down eight players on Saturday, according to Brian Lewis of the New York Post.
Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Joe Harris, Nic Claxton, Royce O’Neale and T.J. Warren all missed their 136-133 win against the Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday due to various injuries, rest or personal reasons.
That left the Nets without most of their usual assets — their top seven scorers were all out — and forced them into a very strange starting lineup. Cam Thomas, however, dropped a career-high 33 points to still get Brooklyn past the Pacers.
While the league clearly doesn’t think the team reported injuries correctly, coach Jacque Vaughn wasn’t worried about any repercussions from the NBA on Saturday. The depleted lineup, he said, was purely coincidental.
“I think everything that is reported today has been documented,” Vaughn said, via the New York Post’s Brian Lewis. “And so whether that is we know that Seth and Joe, they had offseason ankle injury, there’s no argument to that. Nic didn’t play last game because he had hamstring tightness, there’s no argument to that. Kevin is leading the league in minutes, there’s no argument to that. Royce has a personal reason he’s missing the next game, there’s no argument to that.
“So it’s just a combination that is adding up at the same time. But we feel totally comfortable as an organization that we put the best product out on the floor as many times as possible and we’ll continue to do that. It just so happened tonight is more than one, two or three people.”
