DALLAS — Dallas Mavericks forward-center Kristaps Porzingis will have to pay up after kicking a ball into the stands during the team's Tuesday night game against the Golden State Warriors, the NBA said on Wednesday.
Byron Spruell, the league's operations president said Porzingis will be fined $15,000 for the kick, which came with 8:21 remaining in the final quarter of the game at Chase Center in San Francisco.
Video from the game showed Porzingis lose control of the ball after trying to catch a pass. The ball went out of bounds and bounced off the hoop's base, then back toward Porzingis. Once it did, Porzingis punted the ball in the direction of the stands. It does not appear anyone was hit by the ball.
Still, Porzingis received a technical foul for the move, and was ejected from the game.
The Warriors went on to defeat the Mavs 130-92.
In the teams' second match-up of the season (the Mavericks defeated the Warriors 99-82 in their last matchup on Jan. 5), Warriors star Stephen Curry had 18 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for the night. His rookie teammate Jonathan Kuminga put on a show in the fourth quarter, too, as part of a 22-point effort in the game.
Meanwhile, it was a tough night for Dallas after seeing Tim Hardaway Jr. leave the court with a broken bone in his left foot. Hardaway went down awkwardly on a drive and grabbed at his foot, but was able to get up and shoot free throws. The guard was then helped off the court with 7:16 left in the second quarter and didn’t return.
The Mavericks (27-21, fifth in the Western Conference) will take on the Portland Trail Blazers (20-27, 10th in the Western Conference) in Portland on Wednesday night. It will be the teams' second time squaring off this season. The Mavericks won the last matchup 132-117 on Dec. 28, with Kristaps Porzingis scoring 34 points in the win.
Tip-off for Jan. 26's game is at 10 p.m. EST.
Material from the Associated Press contributed to this report.