Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was fined yet again by the NBA yesterday, and the total of his tirades have now reached the $2 million mark.Cuban was slapped with a $100,000 fine for his latest outburst as he confronted game officials on the court. The incident took place at the end of his team’s 129-127 away defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Clippers back on Jan. 15.
The Mavericks were ahead in the game, 127-126, with 15 seconds to go in the contest when the Clippers’ Jamal Crawford went in for a mid-range jump shot.
As he was about to release the ball, Shawn Marion of the Mavericks reached in with his arms slightly and then pulled them back. However, the officials gave Los Angeles a pair of foul shots. Crawford managed to sink them both and LA hung on for the win.
After the game had ended, Cuban could be seen entering the court and giving a mouthful to the game officials, who were Ron Garretson, Leroy Richardson and Karl Lane.
But according to insiders, the outburst may have been planned since Cuban had stated prior to the game that he was wondering if he’d be fined once more by NBA commissioner David Stern before Stern retires from his position on Feb. 1.
On Saturday, Cuban took to his Twitter account and wrote, “I couldn’t let the commissioner go without a proper farewell. It’s been a fun 14 years of trying to create change and donating to the doughnut fund!”
Cuban has been fined several times by Stern over the years with most of them being for criticizing referees. Stern was told of Cuban’s plot to get fined one last time before he stepped down as commissioner and told the press, “I know he is trying, but our muffin fund coffers are overflowing.”
The 55-year-old Cuban took over ownership of the Mavericks back in 2000 and his total fines of just about $2 million may come as a surprise to him. But he’s also been the recipient of some good fortune this year.
The NBA has publicly admitted that game officials have made errors this season and they have led to wins by Dallas. The league said these incidents took place late in games against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Dec. 30 and against the New Orleans Pelicans on Jan. 13.
When the NBA admitted to the mistakes, Cuban said the league should admit to mistakes that are made by game referees at any time during the course of a game, not just the last minute or two.
He added that the officials should be accountable for the entire game and the NBA shouldn’t be hiding anything from the public when evaluating their work throughout the season.
