The NBA and the Warriors have released an official statement announcing that Warriors’ minority owner Mark Stevens has been banned from attending any NBA games and from participating in and/or attending any Warriors’ team activities for one calendar year. He was also fined $500K.
The punishment is in response to Stevens’ actions in last night’s Game 3 of the NBA Finals, wherein he pushed and directed obscenities toward Raptors’ point guard Kyle Lowry after Lowry dived into the stands to chase a loose ball near where Stevens was sitting.
As we relayed earlier today, it had already been announced that Stevens wouldn’t be allowed back for this year’s finals, but this announcement gives further clarity on how long the investor will be banned from attending NBA games. The one-year ban will include the majority of next year’s postseason.
Call the PC police, $500k is about $450k too much. Lowry got more abuse from boogie in one play.
He’s worth $2.3B, so it’s akin to somebody worth a couple hundred thousand being fined less than $45.
The guy is worth 2.3 billion…… I think he can handle a $500k fine
So if he was a normal guy he would be fined $5?
A normal guy would get criminal charges
Bro relax. No one would face even a misdemeanor for that little nudge. But nonetheless, it was appropriate to do what they did to set a precedent and send a message to dissuade other fans. I guarantee you that if he was a nobody, and yes I’m a nobody that has sat first and second row at Knick games in the past, they would not have received a fine anywhere near 500k let alone $500.
There’s been guys who’ve gotten into public brawls in bars that were released on their own recognizance. That shove was nothing and had no intent to harm. What he SAID to him may have worse than the shove.
Ha, a normal guy doesn’t get to sit courtside. You don’t get down there without being well-heeled and/or connected.
Dude shouldn’t sit courtside if he can’t handle it. He knew what would be expected of him when he became an owner.
So why does this same logic not apply to the Disney actor who pretends he’s a hard core gangsta rapper?
Get it straight, he’s a Nickelodeon actor pretending he’s a hardcore gangsta rapper.
I don’t recall him putting his hands on a player…also I don’t believe Disney produced the TV show he was on.
Either way you wanna spin it, he’s the most successful rapper out right now. He had to be warned for giving a shoulder massage to the coach of the team he’s the ambassador for. Tough guy Mark Stevens put his hands on a player on the opposite team of the one he has ownership in in a violent manner. If you want to compare the two, it’s that one is acceptable and one is unacceptable. They are not the same whatsoever.
What’s your point about the “gangster rapper”? Complete your point please. #noshade
@Dooodgethis oooohhhh you mean Drake. Is he realllly pretending to be a gangster rapper because I don’t know ANY rap fan that thinks he’s anywhere near that with his melodic sing songy wishy washy lyrics.
Drakes a fan.Not much they can do,but tell him to stay away from the Arena,but he’s a rich fan.
A bit harsh. What happens if he shows up?
My guess is the police get involved
He’ll get Charles “Oakley’d”
Will kindly be shown the door.
Almost certainly the team will force him to sell his shares and would seek an order of protection.
Hahaha,,,,no.
The only thing that would make this make sense to me is that he said something really bad to Lowry. The shove alone wasn’t that bad especially when you take into consideration that it was the heat of the moment. It makes even more sense if he knew the woman that Lowry sent flying back over the seats.
He told Lowry go F yourself 3 times. He has no business touching the players, specially when he wasn’t even affected
All y’all saying it was no big deal, you are WAY off. You cannot touch the players. What if the guy had a weapon? What if Lowry decked him? Either way, it’s a disaster. This is a zero tolerance issue.
Here’s the thing. Look at the video again. The guy behind Lowry had more physical contact with than the fan who shoved him. It’s almost like “accepted flirting” vs “sexual harassment”. It depends on the “energy” behind it and how it’s accepted. This is absolutely not the first time there’s been physical interaction between player and fan.
And honestly, even tho you sit there at your own risk I’ve seen a guy like Shaq leap over the first row and simply cream fans sitting there not expecting it to happen and unable to prepare for a 7’2 300 lb man leaping into them. The woman who was standing MAY have been related to him (they all had the same lament). Doesn’t excuse it but I don’t think it was what made lowry mad compared to what he reportedly said.
You can’t base punishments on “what ifs” because anything worse can always happen. Besides, you could just just as easily say what if Lowry started choking on a wad of saliva and that push dislodged and saved his life? It didn’t happen, but it is theoretically possible. Do we reward the guy for saving his life since it could have happened? Of course not. In the same respect you shouldn’t punish him for what could have happened either.
He pushed Lowry, that is what he should be punished for. A year and 500k seems a bit much, but a strong deterrent against future incidents was definitey needed. I don’t have a problem with the punishment, but don’t make it seem like he was about to “Monica Seles” Lowry either.
How does it not make sense getting kicked out and banned for pushing someone for doing his job? If dude pushed a waitress for accidentally bumping into his table he would be kicked out and probably not allowed back. He should be fined his shares of the team in my opinion. There is no place in sports for people putting their hands on athletes. If Lowry pushed a fan he would be suspended for a very long time and lose a lot more than 500k
This incident is certainly overblown- but who cares. The rich ahole can afford it, and all athletes should get to compete on the court or the field without having to worry that fans think there aren’t boundaries
What about the woman that was knocked back that hard? It is inevitable that players sometimes land into the seats but lowry went full force and could have badly injured her? Where is the care for her? She isn’t an NBA player so no one cares. Bottom line is he should have braced himself better and slowed down a bit cuz even for a play like that it was too rough.
NBA shouldn’t let fans sit that close in the first place, they aren’t protecting the fans by letting them sit on the court with guys that are 6ft plus and 200+ pounds running up and down a court at full speed.
She should sit in a suite if she’s worried. It’s like foul balls in MLB. You should expect players to come flying into the stands! Maybe the NBA should put up barriers between the fans and the action like the NHL?
Sit courtside get ready for anything. Just like sitting down the lines in baseball
But Drake is fine with what he was doing? I agree they had to do something but they “talk” to Drake and suspend this guy for a year? Knee jerk reaction at its finest!!
If Drake wasn’t a celebrity, they would have done something to him.
Did drake put his hands on any of the players.
Drake touched the Raptors coach on the shoulders. A coach he is obviously friendly with, since Drake is at damn near all if their home games. This dude, Mark Stevens, touched an opposing player. Not just touched, but pushed.
A fan might have received a lesser penalty, but Stevens is a minority owner, he knew or should have known better. If he would’ve shoved lets Ron Artest, Stevens would have needed medical treatment.
And the child actor turned pretend gangster rapper is a team ambassador with zero court priveledges. It doesn’t matter what team the player is on, and yes the hyper regulated coaches count as players.
If he doesnt like players flying into him in those courtside seats, he’s more than welcome sit up in my 200 level seats and i’ll sit in his-straight up even trade :)
Lowry didn’t land on him. That one of the problems. He had to reach to push him.
There should be nobody sitting within 15 ft outside of the bounds. I don’t know why the league allows those really close seats while players keep running into those seats trying to save loose balls.
They allow them to sit there because it’s awesome. And there hasn’t been a problem for a hundred years.
Occasionally a fan will get crashed into. No worries it’s part of sitting up front. Get another $20 bill out and buy another popcorn. Keep your eye on the game.
But things like this will ruin the Fan Experience. Knucklehead Stevens screws it up for everybody. Not sure what he’s doing pushing Lowry after the contact in the first row. Definitely blatant uncalled for push.
Just the nba? What about Olympics, wnba, all of college basketball, high school basketball, little league, AAU…. every court has fans within close proximity to the sidelines and baselines. So, only the nba should mive people back? What about cheerleaders, media persons, scorers table staff… everybody has to move back now because of this one wealthy, privileged a-hole?
Anyone sitting court side is wealthy. No one like you is sitting court side, so why are you defending the practice?
Not everyone is wealthy sitting courtside. I’ve say courtside and while I’m connected I’m not wealthy nor rich. But just because they are wealthy that has little to do with anything. You’re not supposed to touch a player, regardless of what the intent was. And please believe there are “friendly and welcomed” player/fan touching that goes on too. They might need to have a zero tolerance policy AND figure out how to separate the players from the fans. At the end of the day, those seats are coveted BECAUSE of the proximity of the players and teams charge a ton more because of it.
I made the suggestion not because what Stevens did. I have seen a lot of plays where the court side seats interfered with the players’ ability to save loose balls.
Mark Stevens.. you didn’t have to get kicked out to watch 4 with kd
NBA is a joke. Didn’t they warn Drake, yet he does as he wants
There’s a slight difference between Drake and this guy Stevens. What Stevens did was give a shove to a guy as a drive-by thing. He’s getting his shot in. Taking advantage of a situation. Thinking he wouldn’t get caught. Knucklehead.
All Drake is doing is getting involved, being theatrical, getting out of his seat…
Being close to the out-of-bounds line is about as bad as he gets. Nothing to lose sleep over. In fact we all love seeing celebrities at the games.
What a ridiculous and bias take. Drake is constantly getting in players faces, using expletives, and touching members of the team. Court side seats have a zone you must remain in, and drake doesn’t. Take off your fan goggles. Not sure why your defending drake anyways. Drake is to rap what CNN is to news, entirely fake.
Drake gets away with it because he’s part of that inner circle of celebrities. Some guys like that get in the locker room, meet with athletes and other celebrities all the time… behind the ropes kind of thing.
I don’t support Drake and I don’t necessarily like his kind of music, but I recognize the exceptional Talent that he has and his inclusion with other exceptionally talented people…. Athletes, actors, singers Etc. They hang out with each other and they’re comfortable around each other and they know they can trust each other, usually. Drake will yell at you and you can yell back and get in his face and his bodyguard won’t slam you to the ground. Inner circle.
Dived into the stands….awesome grammar. Try dove
Both are correct.
Pretty awesome when someone tried to correct spelling, mislabeled it as grammar, and is wrong regardless.
This seems perfect. It was a little overblown. Shouldn’t be banned for life but deserved some punishment.
NFL coach trips an opposing player while running full speed, gets fined $100k.
NBA fan/owner barely touches an opposing player and gets fined half a MILLION DOLLARS.
If you can’t handle being pushed by a geriatric man sitting down, you sir are a pansy.
And if you’re an owner, you should know better. Owners should be held to a higher standard than anyone else, seeing how they make many of the rules.
Should be a lifetime ban. And there should be criminal charges. You can’t do this at a sporting event.
What would happen if any non-billionaires did this? We’d go to jail.
Super disappointing and weak response by Silver.
For the record, there is absolutely zero connection to this and Drake, who is friends with many NBA players and doesn’t do malicious things.
I think 500k and a ban for a push is more than enough. There are people committing actual crimes that get away with much less punishment. Many of them play in the NBA.
Like who?
The guy did this on camera.