Chicago Bulls big man Joakim Noah has been fined $US15,000 ($A16,830) by the NBA after an obscene outburst directed at game officials in Sacramento.
The French player lost his cool in the third quarter of Chicago's 99-70 loss to the Kings on Monday night, unleashing a profanity-laced tirade after he received two technical fouls in the space of three minutes and was ejected from the game.
"Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah has been fined $15,000 for verbally abusing the officials upon his ejection," Rod Thorn, the NBA's President of Basketball Operations said in a statement on Tuesday.
By the time Thorn had meted out the punishment, Noah had already apologised.
"I'm really disappointed," Noah said after the game.
"I shouldn't have acted that way. I apologised. I'm sorry. All three of the referees out there were trying to do their jobs and I should've never said the things that I said. Hope they accept my apology. I hope we can move on from this."
Noah said he just let frustration get the better of him as the Kings snapped a seven-game losing streak, holding Chicago to just 28.2 per cent shooting from the field.
Teammate DeMarcus Cousins was sympathetic.
"It happens," he said. "At the end of the day, we're all human. We do have emotions. He was a little frustrated. Everybody gets frustrated, so he spoke his mind."
