NBA fines Austin Rivers $25,000 for throwing seat cushion into stands

Clippers guard Austin Rivers said that the fan he accidentally hit in the face with a seat cushion had accepted his apology.

The NBA wasn’t so forgiving.

The league issued Rivers a $25,000 fine Thursday, one day after he inadvertently flipped a cushion several rows into the stands at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento during the fourth quarter of the Clippers’ season opener.

Rivers said he was trying to remove the cushion before sitting down when it freakishly flew out of his hands.

“People need to stop saying I threw anything,” he said, “because I didn’t throw anything at anybody. I hit a pillow and it ricocheted backward. …The pillow was light, so it just flew in the air. It was just crazy.”

Rivers had the fan brought to the Clippers’ locker room after the game, he said, so that he could apologize in person. He posed for pictures with her and said she “was fine.”

“She was very nice about it and I told her, ‘Listen, you should never have to go to an event and worry about at any time an object coming toward your face,’ ” Rivers said. “I know it was a pillow, but the fact is it’s still something.”

Clippers Coach Doc Rivers joked that he had spent all night preparing his comment on the incident involving his son.

“I’m so disappointed as a parent,” deadpanned Rivers.

The coach said he had not had a conversation with his son other than to say, “Don’t do it.”

“We use those big pads and he grabbed it to throw it over in the back row so he could sit down,” Doc Rivers said, “and he said the thing just took off on him, so there’s nothing you can do about it.”