John Wall will have a little less money to give to Drew Gooden next year after he got into a scuffle with Quincy Acy during Thursday's 102-91 win over the Knicks. The NBA announced Wall will be fined $15,000 for his part in the fisticuffs, and Acy has been suspended for a game. Here's video of the incident:
According to the NBA's announcement, Wall was fined for "pushing Acy and escalating the incident" which is a funny way to put it, because you can tell the Knicks weren't very interested in escalating this incident:
On the bright side, the fine may have been worth it from Wall's perspective, according to J.Michael of CSN Washington:
Acy appeared to foul Wall unnecessarily hard and it initially was ruled a common foul. Wall got off the floor and retaliated with a hard shove. Acy went back at him with a swing of his forearm. Each technical foul costs a player $2,000 but for Wall it's probably money well-spent.
He was visibly upset after the Wizards' 99-91 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday after he didn't attempt a foul shot despite having his right eye cut and swollen because of Derrick Rose's reach-ins.
One of the burdens that comes with becoming a bigger star is dealing with more players delivering hard fouls to take players out of their rhythm. How players respond to the extra attention can be a defining moment in a player's career. Those who know how to use the extra attention to their advantage at the free throw line (Dwyane Wade, Derrick Rose, etc.) boost their profile, while others who don't wind up sliding back down the totem pole sooner than they may have planned. It will be interesting to see how Wall and the referees respond to the harder contact he's going to receive in the coming weeks.