Tweet of the Night: Matt Barnes upset with league’s decision to fine Joakim Noah only $15,000 for tantrum

When Joakim Noah went into Half-Baked mode and cursed at all the referees before leaving the game against the Sacramento Kings on Monday,  many expected the league to come down hard on the Chicago Bulls center.

Interestingly, the punishment he received wasn’t as bad as some expected – a $15,000 fine. The pattern of fines given this season have been unique under Rod Thorn. Coach Mike Malone of the Kings was hit with a $25,000 fine for this tantrum, and Mark Cuban was handed a $100,000 fine for his berating of officials just a couple of weeks ago. Perhaps there is a different standard for a coach or an owner, but in no way is what they did worse than what Noah did.

Matt Barnes, who has been the recipient of a couple of fines this season due to his failure of leaving the court in a timely manner after an ejection, was less than pleased when he learned what Noah was hit with for his antics:  

W/all due respect 2 #JoakimNoah because he’s 1 of my favorite players, he gets kicked out & tells every ref 2 F#ck off & gets finned 15k….

— Matt Barnes (@Matt_Barnes22) February 5, 2014

I get kicked out on a b#llshit flagrant two foul that got down graded, yet I get finned 25k @NBA can you help me understand this please?????

— Matt Barnes (@Matt_Barnes22) February 5, 2014

Barnes’ frustration is somewhat understandable. Draymond Green was the only other player this season to be fined for not leaving the court in a timely manner after being ejected from a game, and he was fined $15,000 by the league. Barnes was fined $25,000 both times for the same offense (although his twitter rant on the second offense was a part of the problem). Still, what Noah did was much worse than anything Green or Barnes did after their respective ejections, so for the center to receive less of a fine than Barnes seems to makes little sense.

Unfortunately for Barnes, he’s not going to receive any answers any time soon. The only thing he can hope for is to avoid another fine for publicly criticizing the league’s decision on his twitter.

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James Park is the chief blogger of Sheridan Hoops. You can find him on twitter @SheridanBlog.