Wizards' Thomas fined $25K for contact with referee

Washington Wizards guard Isaiah Thomas was fined $25,000 "for making inappropriate contact with a game official" during Friday's game against the Portland Trail Blazers, the NBA announced.

"It was unintentional contact," Thomas said of the incident on Saturday, according to The Athletic's Fred Katz. "Most importantly, I would like to move on from it, but I definitely didn't mean to put my hands on the ref.

"Anybody who knows me - I've never been in any situation where I would do that, especially 88 seconds into a game, where all I wanna do is play basketball. I hit my first shot. I was feeling good."

Thomas stepped toward the sideline while fighting for the ball with Trail Blazers forward Carmelo Anthony and subsequently made contact with referee Marat Kogut, appearing to shove him with a closed hand.

Postgame, crew chief Mark Ayotte said Thomas' action "was definitely just a push during the dead-ball contact with the referee," according to Katz.

Wizards head coach Scott Brooks thought the contact may have been accidental but ultimately deferred to the officials.

"They were in a scrum and they were fighting for the ball, a jump ball," Brooks said, according to NBC Sports Washington's Chase Hughes. "I had a view that it looked like he lost his balance, but (Kogut) had a better view. Then they looked at it. They look at it, so you hope they made the right call."

Thomas has had a rocky couple of weeks. The league suspended the 30-year-old former All-Star on Dec. 23 for two games after he entered the stands to confront a pair of hecklers.

Thomas is averaging 13 points and 4.4 assists in just over 24 minutes per game in his first season in Washington.