Charlotte Bobcats owner and NBA legend Michael Jordan has been fined $100,000 for public comments he recently made about the lockout and one of the league’s players, according to reports by ESPN.
In an interview last month with Australia’s Herald Sun, Jordan called the NBA’s model of operation “broken” and added:
“We have 22 or 23 teams losing money, so I think we have to come to some kind of understanding in this partnership that we have to realign. I know the owners are not going to move off what we think is very necessary to put a deal in place that allows us to co-exist as partners. We need a lot of financial support throughout the league as well as revenue-sharing to keep this business afloat.”
Continuing on his rant, Jordan, a six-time NBA champion and 14-time All Star as a player, also talked about Australian-born Milwaukee Bucks center Andrew Bogut, saying:
“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.”
Regardless if Jordan’s accusations regarding the league’s dealings are accurate or not, they still violate NBA policy, which bars team owners and employees from discussing the lockout or any players during the work stoppage.
Jordan’s $100k fine comes following a league-wide memo that the NBA sent out a just before the lockout began on July 1. The memo reemphasized their closed-lipped policy and stated that anyone who broke the rules could be fined up to $1 million.
Looks like Jordan-haters have a little more fuel to add to the never ending debate over MJ’s preferential treatment by the NBA.
via CNN
