Suns Forward Josh Okogie Fined for Flopping
The NBA has announced Phoenix Suns forward Josh Okogie was fined after reviewing tape from last night's action.
"PHX’s Josh Okogie was assessed a postgame Flopping fine of $2,000 upon league office review."
The play came in the late stages of the fourth quarter with the Phoenix Suns up 100-96 over the Golden State Warriors. Waiting for a rebound, Okogie was touched on the back by Warriors center Kevon Looney and exaggerated the contact in order to sell a call to an official.
The NBA linked the play here for those to see.
The Suns outlasted Golden State in 108-104 fashion to secure the opening night victory, improving to 1-0 on the season. Their next game is Thursday, Oct. 26 against the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena.
Okogie got the nod as Phoenix's fifth starter alongside the likes of Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. Typically Bradley Beal would have also been in the lineup, though he was out due to injury.
The Suns opted for a starting five of Booker, Grayson Allen, Okogie, Durant and Jusuf Nurkic in their win at Golden State.
In 32 minutes, Okogie scored 17 points and secured five rebounds, which included a clutch shot to help Phoenix preserve their lead in the final moments of the game.
Suns coach Frank Vogel praised his efforts after the win:
“I’m a big fan of his game as I’ve said many times, and he played it as well as anybody on the floor tonight. I mean he’s guarding Steph Curry basically every minute that he’s out there, chasing him around, using a lot of energy there and still finds his way with his cuts, crashes and drives to impact the game offensively which is not always the case when you gotta chase a guy like Steph," Vogel said.
"To do all that — by the way he had more than four offensive rebounds, he had about eight offensive rebounds and not as someone who’s been counting or whatever but he was a demon on the glass, and obviously the big three he really works on his craft and he’s an improved shooter and he’s gonna knock down big threes for us all year.”
