Many around NBA circles were left unsatisfied by the decision the NBA made on Golden State Warriors minority owner Mark Stevens after he pushed Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry in the fourth quarter of Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
Stevens was banned for the rest of the NBA Finals, the entirety next season and fined $500,000 for his actions — the largest fine for an NBA on-court incident to date.
ESPN's Jay Williams was among the list of former players thinking the punishment was simply not enough:
“One of the things that really bothered [Lowry] about it is that when he was on that chair by himself, there wasn't anybody that Mark Stevens was pushing him off of,” said Williams. “If you watch the replay back, he's not pushing him off of anybody, he is just pushing him. If you're a minority owner of a team in a situation like that … I understand that you can have contrite, I understand that you can have sympathy, you can feel sorry for this whole thing. But if we're in a league you have to protect your players, and I feel like that was a good first act by Adam Silver, but I would've had a lifetime ban for Mark Stevens.”
"I feel like that was a good first act by Adam Silver, but I would've had a lifetime ban for Mark Stevens."
—@RealJayWilliams pic.twitter.com/6dOhSCb9wu
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) June 7, 2019
In a later media availability, Silver explained his decision to punish Stevens this way was due to him not having any prior “blemishes” on his record.
But if we are to talk about that, neither did the two Utah Jazz fans who were banned for life earlier this season upon directing racial attacks at Oklahoma City point guard Russell Westbrook.
Having a stake in an NBA franchise obviously makes matters tougher to deal with, but falling short in the punishment leaves an uneasy perception that these actions can be glossed over as long as an owner has the money to put them to rest.
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