Clippers' Matt Barnes bemoans getting larger fine than Joakim Noah
Maybe just let this one go, Matt Barnes.
The Los Angeles Clippers' habitual line-stepper is unhappy he received a larger fine Friday than Joakim Noah of the Chicago Bulls, with both players being punished for separate interactions with fans.
Barnes was hit with a $50,000 fine for an incident involving the mother of Houston Rockets superstar James Harden, during which Barnes reportedly made explicit comments in her direction. Barnes admitted to trash-talking her but denied the specific phrases being reported, with Harden's mother, Monja Willis, saying Barnes apologized and that she accepts the apology.
Noah, meanwhile, was fined $25,000 for pushing a fan after Game 2 against the Cleveland Cavaliers, with the fan allegedly spitting on Noah after the shove.
"I gotta watch my mouth," Barnes said after the Clippers' Game 3 victory on Friday. "But for someone to get $25,000 for physically putting their hands on someone and then someone else to get $50,000 for verbally saying something, there's a problem with that."
This isn't the first time Barnes has taken issue with the league's disciplinary decisions. With career fines totaling $205,000 - plus five games worth of suspensions - Barnes often comments on how light punishments are for other players, most recently with J.R. Smith's two-game ban.
Justified in his juxtaposition or not, Barnes should probably just let this one go. He talked trash to somebody's mother.
Barnes also received a hard foul from Rockets forward Terrence Jones, while Noah appears to have missed the message, with LeBron James accusing him of disrespectful comments during Friday's game.