Hornets' Ball makes 1st comments after being fined $100K by NBA for 'derogatory comment'

CLEVELAND (AP) — Charlotte Hornets star guard LaMelo Ball said Sunday night that he didn't mean to offend anyone with a comment the NBA said was “offensive and derogatory” while slapping him with a $100,000 fine.

Following Saturday's 115-114 win in Milwaukee, Ball made the comment on FanDuel Sports Network. Sideline reporter Shannon Spake asked Ball about the team’s defensive strategy against Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo on the game’s final play, and Ball used an anti-gay slur while delivering his answer.

The league came down hard on Ball, levying the maximum fine possible on the 23-year-old.

After the Hornets lost 128-114 to the unbeaten Cavaliers, Ball made his first comments since the fine was assessed.

“Before we get started, I just want to address the comment yesterday,” he told reporters. "I really didn’t mean anything (by it) and don’t want to offend anybody. I’ve got love for everybody, and I don’t discriminate.”

Ball scored 31 points on 11-of-29 shooting and had 12 assists against the Cavs.

Earlier, first-year Hornets coach Charles Lee said he had spoken to Ball, who had been “very apologetic” and intended to learn from the behavior.

“As an organization, that is obviously not something we condone," said Lee. “Our standards and what is required of our players in the environment we create is really important to us.”

“I spoke to Melo and he’s obviously very apologetic. From what I’ve seen since I’ve been around him, he loves everyone. He’s a joy to have around the facility and it’s not typically how he operates. He and I talked about the seriousness of the situation and how he needs to conduct himself going forward.”

Lee was confident Ball would keep his word.

“He and I talked about it and he definitely said going forward, ‘I’m going to be better,’ and I want to see that happen," Lee said. "So for somebody to use those words and say that out of his mouth, we will make sure to hold him accountable to that.”

Ball had 26 points in the win over Milwaukee, including a pair of free throws with 7.3 seconds left that gave Charlotte the lead for good.

Ball is averaging 29.6 points, 6.3 assists and 5.3 rebounds in his fifth season. He was Rookie of the Year in 2020-21 and an All-Star the following season.

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Charlotte Hornets' LaMelo Ball (1) drives past Cleveland Cavaliers' Caris LeVert (3) during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland, Sunday, Nov 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)

Charlotte Hornets' LaMelo Ball, front, drives past Cleveland Cavaliers' Darius Garland, center, and Jarrett Allen (31) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland, Sunday, Nov 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)

Charlotte Hornets' LaMelo Ball (1) watches the ball during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland, Sunday, Nov 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)

Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball gestures after making a 3-point shot against the Orlando Magic during the first half of an Emirates NBA Cup basketball game, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball (1) drives past Orlando Magic center Moritz Wagner, left, during the first half of an Emirates NBA Cup basketball game, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday named Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, as the new chairman of the agency tasked with regulating broadcasting, telecommunications and broadband.

Carr is a longtime member of the commission and served previously as the FCC's general counsel. He has been unanimously confirmed by the Senate three times and was nominated by both Trump and President Joe Biden to the commission.

The FCC is an independent agency that is overseen by Congress, but Trump has suggested he wanted to bring it under tighter White House control, in part to use the agency to punish TV networks that cover him in a way he doesn’t like.

Carr has of late embraced Trump's ideas about social media and tech. Carr wrote a section devoted to the FCC in “ Project 2025,” a sweeping blueprint for gutting the federal workforce and dismantling federal agencies in a second Trump administration produced by the conservative Heritage Foundation.

Trump has claimed he doesn’t know anything about Project 2025, but many of its themes have aligned with his statements.

Carr said in a statement congratulating Trump on his win that he believed "the FCC will have an important role to play reining in Big Tech, ensuring that broadcasters operate in the public interest, and unleashing economic growth.”

“Commissioner Carr is a warrior for Free Speech, and has fought against the regulatory Lawfare that has stifled Americans’ Freedoms, and held back our Economy,” Trump said in a statement on Sunday. “He will end the regulatory onslaught that has been crippling America’s Job Creators and Innovators, and ensure that the FCC delivers for rural America.”

The five-person commission has a 3-2 Democratic majority until next year, when Trump gets to appoint a new member.

Carr has made appearances on Fox News Channel, including when he slammed Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris ’ appearance on “ Saturday Night Live” the weekend before the election -- charging that the network didn’t offer equal time to Trump.

Also a prolific writer of op-eds, Carr wrote in an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal last month decrying an FCC decision to revoke a federal award for Elon Musk’s satellite service, Starlink. He said the move couldn’t be explained "by any objective application of the facts, the law or sound policy.”

“In my view, it amounted to nothing more than regulatory lawfare against one of the left’s top targets: Mr. Musk,” Carr wrote.

FILE - Brendan Carr answers questions during a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation committee hearing to examine the Federal Communications Commission on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 24, 2020. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post via AP, Pool, File)