Jimmy Butler would like Mason Plumlee to pay his fine after Tuesday tussle

Technical fouls occur with enough frequency in the NBA that it's easy to imagine that players don't much mind getting them when they don't affect the result or end up with an ejection. That's not to say they're welcomed, but a tech stopped looking like an unforgivable offense long ago. Even the $2,500 fine is fairly minor.

Yet those factors have not stopped Chicago Bulls star Jimmy Butler from getting pretty upset with Portland Trail Blazers big man Mason Plumlee for the technical foul he received in Tuesday night's 93-88 Bulls road win. With a little over 4:20 remaining in regulation, Plumlee ran straight through a Butler screen set to free Nikola Mirotic on a curl. Butler's legs caught Plumlee's in the aftermath — via a seemingly purposeful leg lock — and the two got in each other's faces immediately after getting up. Take a look:

 

And here's the transcription via Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times (via Deadspin):

“You know, he thought it was football for a second there,’’ Butler said. “It’s all good, though, man. I almost had to let the Fort Greene Projects out of me, in Brooklyn, you know what I’m saying?’’

Reminded that he’s from Texas and not Brooklyn, Butler laughed and said, “Taj is though, so I can say I’m from there.’’ [...]

“Basketball, emotions, that’s part of the game,’’ Butler said. “Yeah, he cost me $2,500. I’m going to ask him to pay me back, and I’m not playing. I’m going to ask, nicely. Yeah, I’m going to get that.’’ [...]

“I’m going to tell my agent to e-mail or something,’’ Butler added, before taking one last shot at Plumlee, who attended college at Duke. “I know it’s like MisterDukie@yahoo.com or something.’’

We would like to extend our thanks to Jimmy Butler for naming a Yahoo email address to complete his joke. He had so many options to choose from and really did our company a solid.

Anyway, let's get back to the substance of the issue. It's easy to see why Butler was upset after Plumlee's foul, but the subsequent leg lock would appear to have made things all square. Butler earned his tech and should have to pay the fine himself.

Or maybe the league should strike it from the record for that great Duke joke. Seriously, how long did Plumlee play there? Fifteen years?