Fred VanVleet has been around the NBA for a while now, winning an NBA championship in 2019 with the Toronto Raptors. So when he went off Wednesday night with expletives about the officiating he did so knowing the NBA will fine him pretty hard. He doesn't care as he was making a point against certain NBA referees. And he wasn't blaming the officiating for the Raptors loss, "saying his team was outplayed by the Clippers and didn't lose because of the officials, but he thinks the situation has gotten "personal" with Taylor." And who knows, he might be right. Of the 8 technicals VanVleet has received this year, five have come when Taylor is officiating.

Source: Bleacher Report

Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet didn't hold back in his assessment of referee Ben Taylor after his team's 108-100 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday.

"I don't mind, I'll take a fine, I don't really care," VanVleet said (h/t Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN). "I thought Ben Taylor was fucking terrible tonight. I think that on most nights, you know out of the three [officials], there's one or two that just fuck the game up. It's been like that a couple of games in a row."

The comments come just two days after Raptors teammate Scottie Barnes was ejected in a loss to the Denver Nuggets. Referee Scott Foster said Barnes "questioned the integrity of the crew."

No one was ejected on Wednesday, but VanVleet did receive a technical foul in the third quarter of the loss.

"Most of the refs are trying hard," the guard said after the game. "I like a lot of the refs, they're trying hard, they're pretty fair and communicate well. And then you got the other ones who just want to be dicks and just kind of fuck the game up. And no one's coming to see that shit. They come to see the players."

And some more of their handiwork this week.

League Commissioner Adam Silver weighed in (sort of...).

In actuality though VanVleet got a $30,000 fine. Or about 1/10th of 1% of his salary.