Jalen Williams, the All-Star forward for the Oklahoma City Thunder, had a great night on Sunday. The Thunder absolutely crushed the Denver Nuggets in game seven of their playoff series, beating them 125-93 and advancing to the Western Conference Finals. Williams himself scored 24 points in that game. After helping the Thunder score that victory, Williams got a hefty fine from the NBA for about the coolest possible reason: At the post-game press conference, he wore a Madness shirt with a cussword on it.
Jalen Williams was poised and relaxed at Sunday night's post-game press conference, and he looked cool as hell. In addition to a black hoodie and multiple chains, Williams wore a T-shirt with the phrase "Fuck Art, Let's Dance." As the Associated Press reports, this fashion decision violated the NBA's dress code. On Monday, the league announced that it fined Williams $25,000 for "wearing clothing with profane language."
As Jody Avirgan points out on Bluesky, that wasn't just any clothing with profane language. It was a piece of merch from Madness, the great British second-wave ska band. As far as I know, Williams has never expressed any particular fondness for Madness or for Two-Tone ska in general. In a 2023 GQ video interview, Williams mentioned Lil Durk, G Herbo, and Lil Baby among his favorite musicians. He's probably not picking up change to "One Step Beyond" in the locker room. But Williams seems to be into vintage T-shirts; he's wearing a Madonna shirt in that GQ video.
All things considered, I am sure Jalen Williams would probably rather have $25,000 in his pocket than props from this particular website. But the man can afford it, and that's cool as hell. Also, Madness are still selling that "Fuck Art, Let's Dance" shirt. If you've got an NBA post-game press conference coming up, you can (ahem) pick it up here.
Hey you! Don't watch that! Watch this!
The Oklahoma City Thunder had the best regular-season record in the NBA this year. They'll start off the Western Conference Finals tonight at home against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and that should be a great matchup. Madness, meanwhile, just announced the lineup for their House Of Fun weekender festival, which goes down 11/28 to 12/1 at Butlin's Minehead. That's during the NBA season, though, so Jalen Williams probably won't be there.
