As we reported recently, Detroit Pistons guard, Derrick Rose was fined $25,000 by the NBA following the Piston’s loss to New Orleans Pelicans at the Little Caesars Arena.
Rose showed his frustration at the Piston’s fading chances in the NBA Eastern Conference by throwing a pen into the crowd during their overtime defeat, 117-110. To be fair, after scoring 23 points of his own and eight assists, Rose had a right to be frustrated, especially having missed a chance to score the winner at the buzzer of regulation time.
Many fans have been shocked by the size of the fine, given that it was such a minor misdemeanor and no one was hurt. However, you need to bear in mind that while the $25,000 NBA fine may be a huge amount of money to most fans, it is a small change for someone like Rose. After all, his paycheck comes in at around $7m per year.
How does the fine compare?
Of course, Rose isn’t the first baller to show his frustration in a way that wasn’t appreciated by the MBA, and the fines have been pretty consistent when they have.
Even the biggest players are not immune to moments of madness. LeBron James was fined $25,000 in 2010 for kicking a water bottle into the stands, and Golden State Warrior, Stephen Curry, has been fined twice for throwing his mouth guard, once at a fan and once at an official. He was fined $50,000 each time, but with a salary package worth $34m, it’s unlikely that he will miss the money.
Crazy fines
Celtics President, Danny Ainge was fined $25,000 in 2010 for throwing his towel up just as the Cavalier’s JJ Hickson was taking a free throw, but even that is nowhere near the craziest offense to attract a fine. Dallas Mavericks’ Delonte West takes that prize by a mile. He was so determined to put off Gordon Hayward from Utah Jazz in 2012, that he stuck his finger in his ear, giving him what the schoolyard calls a ‘wet willy’! It is a hilarious tactic, but sadly the NBA did not see the funny side, fingering him for $25,000.
The biggest fine
Most NBA fines are little more than a smack on the wrist for the highly paid superstars, but after he was recorded making racist comments in 2014, the league hit LA Clippers owner, Donald Sterling, with everything they had. His $2.5 million penalty was the biggest fine in basketball history and came with a lifetime ban from the game. One hundred times larger than Derrick Rose’s recent penalty, it’s safe to say that was more than a day’s pay for Sterling.
