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Chris Finch fined by NBA after ejection — Anthony Edwards to cover it?

Finch was fined $35,000 by the league following his tirade against the officials on Friday night.
Will Ragatz|
Dec 19, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch yells at referee John Butler about a call for the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first quarter at Target Center. Finch was ejected.
Dec 19, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch yells at referee John Butler about a call for the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first quarter at Target Center. Finch was ejected. | Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

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Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch has been hit with a decent-sized fine related to his ejection for going after the officials early in Friday night's win over the Thunder.

Finch was fined $35,000 by the NBA, the league announced on Sunday. That's not exactly a surprise. What would be interesting to know for sure is if Finch will be the one paying it, or if his superstar player actually plans to step in and cover the fine.

Anthony Edwards, who delivered the late heroics on Friday, has at least joked about paying the fine for his head coach. And given that Edwards is making $45 million this year — quite a bit more than Finch's salary, which isn't publicly available — it wouldn't hurt him much to do so. (To be clear, Finch is also getting paid quite well, so he can afford it if needed).

Finch was fined specifically for "directing inappropriate language toward game officials and failing to leave the court in a timely manner following his ejection," per the league's release. That comes from James Jones, the NBA's executive vice president, head of basketball operations.

If you missed it, the Wolves and Thunder had played about half a quarter on Friday night at Target Center when the officials appeared to miss multiple fouls by Oklahoma City players in short succession — first against an Edwards shot, then one from Julius Randle. Finch, who had been angry with an official late in Minnesota's previous game against the Grizzlies, blew a fuse. He was irate and did not hold back from expressing his thoughts to the refs, which led to two technicals and an ejection.

Finch getting tossed may have been just what the Wolves needed to provide a spark (and perhaps impact how the refs called the rest of the game). They went on to shoot 17 more free throws than the Thunder and win a thriller behind some clutch two-way moments from Edwards, handing OKC just its third loss of the season.

There's been some thought that Finch may have been fine with getting ejected as a way to draw attention to how the Thunder are officiated. Last season, he famously complained about how frustrating it is to play the Thunder because "they foul a ton" and "then you can't really touch Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander)."

Numerous Timberwolves players, from Edwards to Randle and beyond, said after the game that they supported Finch for having their backs. Now it sounds like Edwards might support Finch with his wallet, too.

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Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ

Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI, who also covers the Twins, Timberwolves, Gophers, and other Minnesota teams. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.

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