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The action on the court when the Toronto Raptors faced off against the Golden State Warriors on wednesday was outshined by the drama on the sidelines.
—Beyonce fans sting Warriors co-owners wife for talking to Jay-Z amid death threats—
During the fourth quarter of the high-stakes game, Raptors star Kyle Lowry dove into the stands to try to save a ball from going out of bounds and that’s when Warriors minority owner Mark Stevens shoved the player and reportedly hurled vulgar obscenities.
In response to the on-court exchange, Lowry said Stevens “had no reason” to shove him.
“There’s no place for that,” Lowry told reporters after the game. “He had no reason to touch me, or reach over two seats to say some vulgar language to me. Hopefully he never comes back to an NBA game.”
That offensive move got Stevens banned from the remaining NBA Finals games, CBS News reports.
But many are saying that’s not enough.
On Thursday, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James ripped into Stevens, a white man, for having the nerve to put his hands on a player noting that if Lowry had struck back, there would have been calls to thrown a Black man in jail.
“There’s absolutely no place in our BEAUTIFUL game for that AT ALL,” James wrote on his personal Instagram account. “There’s so many issues here. When you sit courtside you absolutely know what comes with being on the floor and if you don’t know it’s on the back on the ticket itself that states the guidelines. But he himself being a fan but more importantly PART-OWNER of the Warriors knew exactly what he was doing which was so uncalled for. He knew the rules more than just the average person sitting watching the game courtside so for that Something needs to be done ASAP! A swift action for his actions. Just think to yourself, what if @kyle_lowry7 would have reacted and put his hands back on him. You guys would be going CRAZY!! Calling for him to damn near be put in jail let alone being suspended for the rest of the Finals all because he was protected himself. I’ve been quite throughout the whole NBA playoffs watching every game (haven’t missed one) but after I saw what I saw last night, took time to let it manifest into my thinking ? I couldn’t and wouldn’t be quiet on this!”
—Warriors’ investor banned from NBA Finals for Kyle Lowry shove—
The Warriors and the NBA took action to condemn Stevens’ behavior.
According to the New York Times, Stevens has been barred by the N.B.A. and the Warriors for a year and fined $500,000 for “pushing and directing obscene language” and will not be allowed to attend games or other team activities.
The ban is effective immediately and will last through the 2019-20 postseason, according to a joint statement from the league and the Warriors.
Stevens issued a statement on Thursday that said: “I take full responsibility for my actions last night at the NBA Finals and am embarrassed by what transpired. What I did was wrong and there is no excuse for it. Mr. Lowry deserves better, and I have reached out today in an attempt to directly apologize to him and other members of the Raptors and Warriors organizations. I’m grateful to those who accepted my calls.”
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