Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

New York Knicks forward Amare Stoudemire has been fined by the NBA league office for a direct message Tweet he sent a fan that contained a gay slur.

Stoudemire responded to a fan, identified as Brian Ferrelli by the New York Daily News, who Tweeted at Stoudemire to “make up for this past season.”

Direct messages on Twitter can only be seen by the person sending the message and the person receiving it. Ferrelli posted a screen shot of the message sent by Stoudemire.

There isn’t really a precedent for this with pro athletes and with Twitter. Being fined for Tweeting something that you know the entire world can see is one thing but when it is a direct message, the idea is that it isn’t public, even if you are a public figure.

A direct message is not very different from a text message which is something a professional athlete would never be fined for.

What Stoudemire did was out of line for sure but for the league to step in this way may also be crossing the line in a way.

Stoudemire just can’t seem to catch a break these days when he chooses to let his anger out. Whether it’s Tweeting or punching a fire extinguisher, luck is not on his side.

Stoudemire went from an MVP candidate and All-Star at the beginning of last season to something totally unrecognizable since the Knicks acquired Carmelo Anthony.

Good fortune is something Knicks fans are hoping for with this team and Stoudemire. It just doesn’t seem to be heading in that direction.

World Peace of course elbowed Harden at the end of the regular season in what was one of the dirtiest plays in the NBA this season. He never really apologized for the act claiming it was an accident.

During Game 3 of the NBA Finals last night, World Peace Tweeted this about Harden.

No brain All beard

— Metta WorldPeace (@MettaWorldPeace) June 18, 2012

It was right after Harden tried to draw an offensive foul on LeBron James late in the fourth quarter.

World Peace has been critical of Harden as a flopper ever since the elbowing incident. He even suggested that Harden may have flopped some from his elbow.

So we know World Peace is crazy and has something against Harden but saying “no brain” is a little mean. It’s probably harmless because in the end that’s who World Peace is but he just comes off as stupid Tweeting something like that.