NBA fines Kings center Alex Len and Blazers guard CJ McCollum for Friday night fracas
The NBA has fined Kings center Alex Len and Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum for their roles in a fracas that occurred in the third quarter of Sacramento’s 123-111 victory Saturday night at Moda Center in Portland, Ore.
The league announced the fines Sunday as the Kings were preparing to play the Toronto Raptors on the second night of a back-to-back at Golden 1 Center. McCollum was fined $20,000 for shoving Len and “attempting to escalate the altercation,” the NBA said. Len was fined $15,000 for shoving McCollum.
Len said he was surprised by the fine.
“It sucks,” he said. “I thought I didn’t deserve it because I was just trying to protect myself, but it is what it is. He kind of caught me off guard. I was just trying to set a screen. You see in the video he pushed me. I pushed him back, trying to protect myself.”
Tempers flared with 8:50 to play in the third quarter, when Len attempted to set a screen on McCollum. McCollum pushed Len. Len pushed back. The two of them squared off. Players and officials managed to separate them before any punches were thrown, but both combatants were assessed offsetting technical fouls.
Blazers point guard Damian Lillard described what he saw during the exchange between McCollum and Len.
“(Len) was setting a moving screen,” Lillard said. “CJ was kind of bumping him, trying to fight through it, then they called an offensive foul because he kind of shoved him on the last screen and (it was) a frustrating time of the game. CJ shoved him back, he shoved CJ, and at that point (you’ve) got to get ready to defend yourself, and I thought that’s what (McCollum) did.”
The Kings led the Blazers by as many as 26 in an impressive victory that moved Sacramento a half-game ahead of Portland for ninth place, 3 1/2 games behind the Memphis Grizzlies for the eighth seed in the Western Conference playoff race.
Len has provided an element of toughness sine the Kings acquired him from the Atlanta Hawks on the eve of the trade deadline. He previously had an altercation with Montrezl Harrell when the Kings beat the Los Angeles Clippers on Feb. 22.
“I think that’s Alex’s second scuffle already — what you would call a fight in today’s NBA,” Kings coach Luke Walton said. “We love it. We don’t want any fights. We don’t want anyone to ever get hurt, but you need to play with an edge. The only to play with an edge is to have guys with that in their makeup. We’ve only had him for a short time, but he’s definitely made us a more physical, tough team.”
This story was originally published March 8, 2020 at 4:46 PM.
