Trail Blazers' Maurice Harkless fined $15,000 for tossing headband into stands

It was quite a costly headband toss.

Near the end of their Game 3 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday, Portland Trail Blazers forward Maurice Harkless received a technical foul and was ejected, but not before throwing his headband into the stands in frustration. That will cost him $15,000, the league announced on Saturday.

The incident occurred with 19.2 seconds left in the game and the Thunder ahead by 10. Harkless fouled Paul George shooting a 3-pointer, but was visibly frustrated with the call, leading to the technical.

Oklahoma City won 120-108 to cut Portland’s lead to 2-1 in the first round series.

Harkless didn’t hurl his headband into the crowd, rather tossing it onto a poor media member at the scorers table.

Harkless scored 7 points and committed four turnovers in 34 minutes on Friday.

It has been a chippy three games so far between the two teams, most notably with star guards Damian Lillard and Russell Westbrook going at each other. Harkless himself did not mince words on Saturday on the Thunder’s trash talking (he was on the recipient of these remarks from Westbrook).

Without reading too deep into what could have just been a heat-of-the-moment frustration toss of the headband, one could argue that OKC’s antics worked in Game 3, helping the Thunder win a pivotal game to get back in the series.

But Harkless and the Trail Blazers can quiet a lot of the talk if they win Game 4 and take a commanding 3-1 series lead.

“We are a tough group,” Harkless said to The Athletic. “I don’t think we have anybody who is scared or who is going to waver or back down. We welcome that type of action. I don’t think it worries anybody on this team.”

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