Charlotte Hornets forward Miles Bridges had a pretty lousy Wednesday night.
Bridges and his teammates were thrust into the offseason via a 132-103 blowout loss to the Atlanta Hawks in Wednesday’s play-in game that Charlotte would prefer to quickly forget, and the 24-year-old was ejected from the contest after he vehemently complained about a goaltending call to game official James Williams:
Bridges’ situation was made worse, however, when he threw his mouthpiece into the stands as he was being heckled by at least one fan. The mouthpiece struck a girl who is reportedly 16 years old, and ESPN and The Associated Press report that Bridges has been fined $50,000 by the NBA for his actions.
“I was aiming for the guy that was screaming at me and it hit a little girl,” Bridges explained shortly after the defeat, per ESPN (h/t ABC). “So that’s definitely unacceptable on my part and I take full responsibility. … That’s out of character for me. You’ve been around me; I don’t act like that or ever flash out like that.
“So that was definitely wrong, a lot of emotions and hopefully I can get in contact with the young girl and sincerely apologize to her and do something nice for her, but that’s definitely on me.”
To his credit, Bridges also tweeted about the matter:
Earlier in the day, ESPN personalities Jay Williams and Tim Legler correctly predicted Bridges would be fined but not suspended for his actions:
Bridges has reached out to the young fan via Instagram, and the Hornets are also trying to get him in touch with the individual.
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