Thursday 6 June 2019 23:09, UK
Golden State Warriors minority owner Mark Stevens, who shoved the Toronto Raptors' Kyle Lowry during the NBA Finals game on Wednesday, will be fined $500,000 and banned from attending NBA games for one year.
Lowry tumbled into the front row of the crowd in Oakland while diving for a loose ball during the fourth quarter and Stevens, who was sitting courtside, used one hand to push the player as he was getting back on his feet.
Lowry later said that Stevens also "said a couple vulgar words" to him.
Stevens was escorted out of the game and Lowry called for him to be banned from all future NBA games.
The league and team said in a joint statement on Thursday: "The NBA and the Golden State Warriors today announced that Warriors investor Mark Stevens has been banned from attending NBA games and Warriors team activities for one year and has been fined $500,000 for pushing and directing obscene language toward the Toronto Raptors' Kyle Lowry during Game Three of the Finals last night."
The Warriors earlier issued a formal apology to Lowry.
"Mr. Stevens' behaviour last night did not reflect the high standards that we hope to exemplify as an organisation," the Warriors said in a statement.
"We're extremely disappointed in his actions and, along with Mr. Stevens, offer our sincere apology to Kyle Lowry and the Toronto Raptors organisation for this unfortunate misconduct.
"There is no place for such interaction between fans - or anyone - and players at an NBA game."
The 60-year-old Stevens, who joined the Warriors' ownership team in 2013, is a billionaire venture capitalist who was a partner with Sequoia Capital until 2012 and is now a managing partner of S-Cubed Capital.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr echoed the team's statement.
"I will also personally apologise to Kyle and to the Raptors. That's unacceptable," he told reporters.
Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James took to Instagram to call for the league to take swift action against Stevens, prior to the announcement of the fine and the ban.
"There's absolutely no place in our BEAUTIFUL game for that AT ALL," James said.
"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 said.
James ended his lengthy post with the hashtags #ProtectThePlayers and #PrivilegeAintWelcomeHere.
The Raptors won the game to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Game 4 takes place in Oakland in the early hours of Saturday morning (2am) live on Sky Sports Arena.
