NBA owners, general managers and collective brass, take note: talking about your desire for LeBron James (or any other free-agent for that matter) before free-agency officially kicks off on July 1st will result in a hefty fine. This, as Mark Cuban and Steve Kerr found out recently, is a direct violation of the NBA’s anti-tampering policy.
In a CNNMoney.com interview Cuban was asked if he had interest in acquiring James for the Mavericks this offseason. Cuban spoke on the topic freely, and his answer was anything but surprising:
“Come July 1st, yeah, of course, anybody would be interested in LeBron James. And if he leaves via free agency, then it’s going to be tough. If he does like I’m guessing, hoping he will, which is say, ‘I’m not going to leave the Cavs high and dry,’ if he decides to leave — there’s still a better chance he stays — then he’ll try to force a sign-and-trade and that gives us a chance.”
However, the NBA didn’t take kindly to these remarks, and slapped Cuban with a whopping $100,000 fine. Cuban confirmed his fine on his Twitter feed today, saying “For those of you who care about these things. NBA just fined me 100k for comments regarding another teams’ players.” Certainly, us gawking fans care a bit more than Cuban does himself. As a man with a net-worth of $2.4 billion, a $100,00 fine isn’t going to break the Cuban bank. Steve Kerr was fined $10,000 a week ago for comments he made on a radio show where he joked about the Suns acquiring James for the mid-level exception.
The discrepancy between the fines is certainly notable. Did Cuban get fined more because of the sincerity of his comments? Did the NBA feel as though they needed to fine Cuban a substantial amount to even make a blip on his radar? If I had to field a guess, I would presume that the NBA sent out a friendly reminder after Steve Kerr’s fine for owners and general managers to keep their free-agent wish lists under wraps until July 1. Cuban likely printed out the email and put it in his “I can afford to defy authority” pile and went about his business as usual.
While I found the $100,000 fine to be beyond excessive, I’d be surprised to see David Stern have any more such troubles before the free-agency period begins. What makes these fines so comical is that there isn’t a team in the league who wouldn’t love to land James this Summer, so Cuban and Kerr’s comments are harmless. Also, if you aren’t Cleveland, Chicago, Miami or New York, you probably shouldn’t be talking about your chances of landing James anyway.
So, members of the media – quit asking NBA personnel whether they are interested in LeBron James. They are.
NBA personnel, quit answering these slow-pitch questions about LeBron. You could afford it, but why waste your money on a lost cause?
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
The thing that makes it ridiculous is that David Stearn already weighed in and said Lebron should stay. Is he going to fine himself?
Heh, good point. The problem is, the NBA isn’t a democracy, it’s a dictatorship – so Stern probably gets off the hook in this instance.
Heh, good point. The problem is, the NBA isn’t a democracy, it’s a dictatorship – so Stern probably gets off the hook in this instance.
+1