LaMelo Ball is adamant he’s not a bigot … telling reporters Sunday that even though he used some anti-gay language earlier in the weekend, he has “love for everybody.”
Ball was fined by the NBA just prior to his Sunday evening meeting with the media … after league officials deemed the “no homo” comment he made in a postgame interview on Saturday “offensive and derogatory.”
Ball told journalists following the Hornets’ 128-114 loss to the Cavaliers that he “really didn’t mean anything” by the remark … and he doesn’t “want to offend anybody.”
“I’ve got love for everybody,” he added, “and I don’t discriminate.”
Several hours earlier, before Ball and Charlotte tipped off their game against Cleveland, Hornets head coach Charles Lee insisted his star played was “very apologetic” about the situation.
🎙️ Charles Lee on LaMelo Ball’s fine:
“As an organization, that’s obviously not something that we condone. Our standards and what is required of our players in our environment that we create is really important to us.”
“I spoke to Melo and he’s obviously very apologetic from… pic.twitter.com/3vBImWBWt5
— /r/CharlotteHornets (@HornetsReddit) November 17, 2024
@HornetsReddit
“He and I talked about it and he definitely said going forward, ‘I’m going to be better,’ and I want to see that happen,” Lee said. “So for somebody to use those words and say that out of his mouth, we will make sure to hold him accountable to that.”
Ball is not the first player to receive punishment from the NBA over a “no homo” comment — back in February 2023, Cam Thomas was slapped with a $40K fine for using the rhetoric.
The $100K fine levied against Ball is the NBA’s maximum possible.