LA Clippers' Chris Paul Fined for Calling Out Referee's Technical Foul

Chris Paul has been fined $25,000 for criticizing referee Lauren Holtkamp's technical foul.

According to Fox News Latino, the Los Angeles Clippers star point guard publicly called out the first-year referee's technical foul against the team he's playing on. The NBA Players Association expressed its support for Paul, while the National Basketball Referees Association, or NBRA, is on Holtkamp's side.

"Some of [the technical fouls] were ridiculous," Paul said, as quoted by a report from ESPN. "The tech that I get right there was ridiculous. I don't care what nobody says, I don't care what she says; that's terrible. There's no way that can be a tech. We try to get the ball out fast every time down the court, and when we did that, she said, 'Uh-uh.' I said, 'Why, uh-uh?' And she gave me a tech."

He added, "That's ridiculous. If that's the case, this might not be for her."

According to ESPN, the fine was announced by the NBA on Saturday, two days after Paul expressed his negative comments directed towards Holtkamp following the Clippers' loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The athlete's statement sparked debates "over whether Paul was being disrespectful of Holtkamp based on her gender," which reportedly caused a rebuke Friday from the NBRA. An insider privy to the process, however, revealed to ESPN that the NBA decided Paul's remarks were not gender-based and that the fine is "based on his public criticism."

Michele Roberts, executive director of the NBA Players Association, also backed up Paul in an official statement issued last Friday. The statement read, as quoted by ESPN: "Any suggestion that Chris Paul would ever conduct himself in a disrespectful manner towards women is utterly ridiculous, outrageous and patently false."

She added, "His personal management team, which includes several accomplished women who play a major role in virtually all of his business affairs is, alone, evidence of that fact. Without hesitation, the Players Association stands firmly behind Chris, whose competitiveness may only be exceeded by the strength of his values and his convictions."

The Clippers-Cavaliers game featured five technical fouls against the former, Daily Mail recalled. Holtkamp is reportedly one of just two female referees in the NBA.

According to Washington Post, Holtkamp has officiated 29 games and her technical fouls "were nothing unusual." The Clippers, however, are constantly being fouled. The team averaged "the second-most technical fouls in the NBA (0.7) behind the Phoenix Suns (0.8)."