Oracle incident reminiscent of Westbrook altercation but NBA action isn’t in line with zero tolerance

The incident at Oracle between Kyle Lowry and a Warriors minority owner reminds of OKC Thunder star Russell Westbrook – Jazz fan altercation. The NBA responded but failed to deliver a suitable punishment.

When fans reflect back to the 2018-19 NBA season one of the narratives will no doubt be the issues which arose between players and fans. Two specific incidents which made this a talking point will be cited. The first involving OKC Thunder superstar Russell Westbrook who got into a verbal exchange including racial overtones with a Utah Jazz fan.

Having experienced issues with Jazz fans during the 2018 playoffs as well only added fuel to the fire. In response, Utah banned the fan for life from attending any further Jazz games and the league banned him from all NBA games.

This put precedence in place moving forward particularly with facilities now having the ability to utilize video to isolate on seated areas for confirmation of misbehavior.

The second issue not only re-opened the can of worms it dumped them writhing and crawling all over the hardwood. As Kyle Lowry attempted to save a ball from going out of bounds he flew into the front row of seats.

A fan seated two seats away from where Lowry landed leaned over across the seats and shoved Lowry in the shoulder and then proceeded to get into a verbal altercation with the Raptors guard.

It was confirmed during media availability the fan repeatedly told Lowry (NSFW) “to go F yourself”. Eventually, the fan was escorted from his seat. The morning after the game we’ve learned this person was Mark Stevens who wasn’t simply a fan, but a minority owner (which got re-termed to an investor during the course of the day) of the Golden State Warriors.

To say this couldn’t possibly have gone worse for the NBA or the Warriors franchise is an understatement.

Even more than a typical fan, franchise owners and management should know better than anyone why players shouldn’t be touched or verbally accosted.

Although the Warriors took an immediate stance to apologize and state Stevens would not attend any further playoff games which at the most can only be two games at Oracle.

The man who shoved Kyle Lowry hard in the shoulder after Lowry fell into the stands last night? Mark Stevens, one of the Warriors’ minority owners. Here’s Golden State’s statement on the incident - the team says Stevens won’t be at any more Finals games this year. pic.twitter.com/eUHNKn3Yp7
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) June 6, 2019

The response to this was immediate and direct and it came from someone who I often don’t take the side of when it comes to using the public to push his own desires – LeBron James. Personally, I’ve given James a hard time when he’s taken a public approach to passive aggressively get his message in the public so he can obtain his desired action. But in this case, he deserves credit and praise for taking an immediate stance and calling out the powers that be to take a much harder line in their actions toward Mark Stevens.

As per below James responded to Nichols initial tweet with “Ok cool, but still, ain’t enough. They did exactly what they had to do. Get in front of it, before anyone else and plus there’s only 4 games left (2 max in GS).”

Major kudos to LeBron James for stepping up and defending Lowry and in essence all his peers. This is a situation where LeBron James proved he deserves the crown he still wears in the NBA.

The NBA has spoken - Warriors minority investor Mark Stevens is going to be banned from attending games for one year, and fined half a million dollars, for pushing Raptors guard Kyle Lowry in the shoulder during last night’s game.
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) June 6, 2019

A second more detailed (and impressive I might add) Instagram response was posted by LeBron.

https://www.instagram.com/p/ByX_076gKD3/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Whether James message and subsequent support from other players provided the added pressure to resolve the situation more expeditiously we don’t know.

But the league did, in fact, respond with a secondary harsher punishment. Stevens is banned for one year and fined a half million dollars.

If you watched Thursday’s episode of the Jump I’m in agreement with Rachel Nichols, an owner should be punished even more severely than a fan would be because they DO know better. So while I appreciate the quick and direct response I still feel Stevens should’ve been stripped of his ownership or investment or however the Warriors are now deeming Stevens and also banned for life.