Tensions flared in Atlanta on Monday night, and now Naz Reid and Mouhamed Gueye are paying the price-literally. The NBA has fined both players $35,000 each for their roles in a fourth-quarter altercation that saw emotions spill over into physicality.
It all started on the first possession of the final frame. Gueye, defending Reid on a routine play, gave the Timberwolves big man a hard shove that sent him to the floor.
Reid didn’t take kindly to it. He got up, got in Gueye’s face, and things quickly escalated.
The two exchanged shoves and grabbed at each other’s jerseys in what the league described as an “aggressive manner.”
It wasn’t quite a full-blown brawl, but it was enough to get both benches on alert. Coaches and teammates rushed in to separate the pair before things could spiral further. The officials assessed double technicals and tossed both players from the game.
The Timberwolves would go on to win comfortably, 138-116, but the dust-up earned both players a financial hit in the aftermath.
For Gueye, the fine will sting a bit more. He’s on a minimum deal-earning just over $2.2 million in the third year of his four-year contract with the Hawks.
Reid, on the other hand, is in the first season of a five-year, $125 million deal he inked last offseason. That contract made him the highest-paid free agent of 2025, and he’s currently pulling in over $21.5 million this year.
Still, regardless of salary, the league is sending a clear message: keep the physicality between the whistles. The NBA has long tried to walk the line between allowing intensity and curbing unnecessary confrontations, and this is another example of that policy in action.
Reid and Gueye will move on from this, but their fines serve as a reminder-no matter how heated the moment, there’s always a cost to crossing that line.