The Slatest

Steph Curry Has a History of Flinging His Mouth Guard in Anger

Stephen Curry throws his mouthpiece into the stands during the fourth quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 6 of the 2016 NBA Finals on Thursday in Cleveland.

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Steph Curry doesn’t have much reason to get angry. He’s great at basketball, his team always wins, and he has the best sports baby. When things don’t go Curry’s way, though, the man has a go-to move. We saw it on Thursday night, when he ripped out his mouthpiece, threw it into the stands, and got ejected from Game 6 of the NBA Finals.

Judging by NBA precedent, Curry won’t be suspended for his transgression. He would know. After the game, Curry told the press, “I’ve thrown my mouthpiece before. I usually aim at the scorer’s table. I was off aim. Definitely didn’t mean to throw it at a fan.”

When Curry flung his mouth guard on March 23, the drool-covered appliance did indeed land a lot closer to the scorer’s table. In that regular-season game against the Los Angeles Clippers, Curry got called for a technical foul by referee Zach Zarba as a fan in the front row at Oracle Arena looked on with wide-eyed amazement. Curry’s explanation for the toss, according to the AP: “I want to talk and I can’t talk with a mouthpiece in.”

Two years earlier, Curry abused his mouth protector in a playoff game against the Clippers. With the Warriors down 29 points late in the third quarter, the not-yet MVP flipped out when he didn’t get a foul call after sinking a driving layup. You can see this fling at the 2:05 mark in the video below. Curry had good reason to be mad: This was the last playoff series the Warriors lost.

Though Curry did get called for technical fouls on both of these previous occasions, I can’t find any record of him getting fined, much less suspended. Other players haven’t been so lucky.

In 2014, then Utah Jazz center Enes Kanter hurled his mouth guard in the stands to protest a traveling call. The fan who caught it looks kind of pleased with his haul, though he reportedly returned the device to Kanter. The woman behind him looks absolutely disgusted.

Kanter was fined $25,000 for his transgression; he was not suspended by the league. “At least the guy caught it,” Kanter said after the game. “He’s not going to sue me, I hope.”

In 2012, the Sacramento Kings’ Aaron Brooks gave his mouthpiece an amazing send-off, catapulting it into the crowd after his team lost to the Utah Jazz. Brooks was fined $25,000; he was not suspended. You can see Brooks’ spectacular throw at the 2:13 mark of the video below. He’s the guy on the far right of the screen, throwing his mouthpiece.

In 2010, Andrés Nocioni got the standard $25,000 fine and nonsuspension for throwing his mouth guard into the stands. So did Kirk Hinrich in 2007.

There is some precedent, though, for players getting suspended for a mouth-guard throw. In 2012, the Raptors’ Amir Johnson and referee David Jones got in a bizarre squabble after the Toronto player tried to grab the ball after a made free throw. As the brouhaha escalated, Johnson tossed his mouthpiece in the ref’s general direction.

“I’m going to accept the consequences,” Johnson said after the game. “Whatever happens, happens. I apologize if I hurt anybody or I did anything wrong. It is what it is.” While it’s hard to imagine that he hurt anybody physically or emotionally, what it was ended up being a one-game suspension.

In 2006, Miami’s Udonis Haslem got ejected from a playoff game when he used his mouth protector as a projectile. Haslem, who skipped his mouthpiece across the floor towards the feet of ref Joey Crawford, later insisted he wasn’t aiming for the irascible referee. The league suspended him for a game anyway.

The precedent here is clear: If you don’t aim at a ref, then you don’t get suspended. So long as the guy Steph Curry clocked in the face wasn’t some sort of undercover NBA official, then the Warriors’ best player should be in the lineup for Game 7.