NBA commissioner David Stern was serious when he said no owners or employees can talk about the lockout or players during the league’s labor strife.
Charlotte Bobcats owner and former NBA great Michael Jordan found out just how serious Stern was when he was assessed a $100,000 fine for discussing NBA business with an Australian newspaper last month, according to an ESPN report. Jordan was dinged for telling the Herald Sun that the league needs revenue sharing to help the smaller market teams and he also mentioned Milwaukee Bucks’ center Andrew Bogut, who is Australian.
“We need a lot of financial support throughout the league as well as revenue sharing to keep this business afloat,” Jordan said in the Aug. 19 interview. “We have stars like Bogut who are entitled to certain type of demands. But for us to be profitable in small markets, we have to be able to win ballgames and build a better basketball team.”
Most believe Jordan got away with quite a bit when he was the NBA’s marquee player, but things have apparently changed for His Airness as an owner.
Jordan actually got off with a relatively light penalty, because the league sent out a memo prior to the July 1 lockout warning owners and employees that anyone who violated the policy of discussing players or the lockout could be fined up to $1 million.
It’s no secret the smaller-market teams are struggling, which is primarily why the NBA is in a lockout. Most of the league is said to be working in the red. So they want the players to take considerably less than their 57 percent stake in the overall league revenue. But another way to lessen the $300 million in losses the NBA says it suffers is for franchises like the Los Angeles Lakers to share some of its revenue with the smaller market teams.
Contact Terrance Harris at terrancefharris@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @Terranceharris
(Photo: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
