Owners Taking LeHeat Over LeBron
Posted on 27. May, 2010 in Online Wagering
World Cup betting won’t take attention away for what is going to be the main story in American sports as of July 1st: where will LeBron James go? So far, the curiosity has lightened the pockets of a couple NBA owners.
Dallas owner Mark Cuban was fined $100,000 three days ago for saying that, yes, the Mavericks would be interested in signing James, the two-time defending NBA MVP who is heading the biggest free-agent class in league history. Phoenix GM Steve Kerr was fined $10,000 for jokingly hoping James would take the mid-level exception, which is all the Suns can offer him, and now, Atlanta owner Michael Gearon was fined $25,000 after basically answering a question posed to him about going into luxury tax to sign James.
We’re not even going to get into the fact that Kerr and Gearon weren’t docked nearly as much as Cuban, but that’s another “David Stern Bias” rant for another day. But really, all these guys are doing, is answering questions posed to them by the media. And really, what owner WOULDN’T try to sign LeBron James? If you think you have the slightest chance, and you don’t pursue, you would be ridiculed by fans, media and basically anyone with a pulse. The tampering rule is a little bit heavy-handed, and it’s not like these owners/GMs went to James behind the Cavaliers’ back and tried to talk to him (which we don’t doubt is happening, not with only these three teams). Stern said himself he wants James to stay in Cleveland….is that tampering?
Either way, we’re betting on Stern to fine someone else for no good reason in the next week.
