Clippers’ Matt Barnes under investigation by NBA for offensive tweet

The NBA is investigating Clippers forward Matt Barnes for his offensive language on Twitter during his team’s victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder, a league official said Thursday.

Rod Thorn, the NBA’s president of basketball operations, is looking into the Barnes’ situation and will probably make a decision on the matter later Thursday, said the league official, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

The league official said Barnes will be fined for tweeting during the game -- players are not allowed to tweet between 45 minutes before a game and until after they finish their media responsibilities at the conclusion of the game -- and that his fine and/or discipline probably will be increased for the inappropriate comments Barnes made on Twitter.

Barnes was ejected from Wednesday night’s game at Staples Center after a pushing match with Thunder forward Serge Ibaka, who was also ejected.

Barnes had run to help out teammate Blake Griffin, who also had gotten into a shoving match with Ibaka with 6.2 seconds left in the second quarter.

While the game was still going on, @Matt Barnes22 fired off a tweet that included a racial epithet and profanity: “I love my teammates like family, but I’m DONE standing up for these ... All this ... does is cost me money.”

Even though the tweet came after he was ejected, the official said Barnes violated the rules.

“So it doesn’t matter that he was ejected,” the NBA official said. “That would give guys free passes to do whatever the heck they want.”

Though the Clippers didn’t practice Thursday, players did go in for treatment of various injuries.

The Clippers are scheduled to practice again on Friday in preparation for Saturday night’s home game against the Brooklyn Nets.

Barnes, who has always been good with the media, probably will talk to reporters before practice Friday.

On Thursday, Barnes again took to Twitter, to apologize to his teammates, the Clippers organization and fans.

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Matt Barnes vents his frustration on Twitter after his ejection

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