Warriors welcome back pushy minority owner
The Golden State Warriors may be willing to forgive and forget, but there has been no indication Kyle Lowry has.
The Warriors announced this week that minority owner Mark Stevens would be reinstated to his previous status after sitting out a one-year suspension and paying a $500,000 fine for both shoving a helpless Lowry and then cursing him out as the Raptors player tried to get back in the action after diving into the stands for a loose ball.
The incident occurred during Game 3 of the NBA Finals, which the Raptors would go on to win in six. At the time, Lowry said action needed to be taken against Stevens, who was seated courtside beside his wife. Lowry actually made contact with a fan two seats over from Stevens, but it was Stevens who reached out to shove the Raptors player. Lowry said he was cursed at multiple times by the man as he did so.
Lowry immediately got the attention of the officials, could be seen demonstrating what the individual did to him and then could be seen offering his own advice as to what should be done with the fan which was basically to toss the man out.
The reaction from players around the league was swift. Lebron James posted an Instagram message that very night saying there was no room in the game for this type of action. He hash tagged his post# Protect the players and# Privilege a int welcome here.
Members of the Warriors spoke out against Stevens as well.
Stevens, who reportedly owns somewhere between 2% to 10% of the team, made efforts to apologize to Lowry and the Raptors as an organization, but Lowry wasn’t responding to his calls then and hasn’t since.
Commissioner Adam Silver said at the time that he felt the suspension and fine were adequate given that Stevens was “extraordinarily apologetic” and had not had any previous issues with his league or its players.
The published reports of his reinstatement say the suspension will be lifted when the 202021 season begins.
ABOUT THE COMBINE
For now it has been suspended, but the league’s mass information-gathering for draft day tool, better known as the NBA combine, remains a front of mind exercise for the NBA.
According to reports from Shams Charania, the league has sent out feelers to teams asking for requests to fill the 60-odd slots available to the draft-eligible players.
Until the coronavirus pandemic begins to recede though, the planning can only go so far. The league is not ready to set a date for he combine because it can’t happen until the season is either completed or cancelled.
There is talk that the entire operation could be done virtually as well, but that too is just an option at this point.