Masai Ujiri, the first-year Toronto Raptors GM who made headlines with his pre-game comment about Brooklyn in front of a pumped up Toronto crowd before Game 1, is going to be a little lighter in the pocketbook. The NBA has fined him $25,000 for this “F*** Brooklyn” exaltations in Maple Leaf Square on Saturday.
The NBA initially offered a warning for his expletive about Brooklyn, but Commissioner Adam Silver and president of basketball operations Rod Thorn reconsidered before leveling the fine.
Ujiri told the USA Today‘s Jeff Zillgitt, “I do apologize. It was the wrong choice of words. My mom raised me better than that.”
Ujiri was trying to fire up the crowd that had gathered during in the rally and he let the emotions of the moment get the better of him.
“I have a responsibility here, and my responsibility is to rally our fans and our team and be a leader who is passionate about the game and what I do and stand tall for who we are,” he said.
President and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (the owners of the Raptors) Tim Leiweke supported his new GM, but wasn’t very comfortable with the cursing:
“I love what Masai did because who it really meant something to were the players — the fact he was willing to stand up for them and fight back,” Leiweke told USA TODAY Sports. “That meant a lot to me. Again, I don’t think we need to be out doing f-bombs in order to get there. But I admire him for fighting for this organization.”
Still, Ujiri’s comments have endeared him to all Raptors fans, and while his brief break from decorum cost him $25K, it’s almost worth the money for how pumped up it made Raptors fans. They won’t soon forget their foul-mouthed GM blasting Brooklyn, and that will only make him more popular with the fans.
Was the fine excessive for an F-bomb?
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