At the end of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Cavaliers reserve Dahntay Jones delivered a low blow to Raptors center Bismack Biyombo that sent him crashing to the floor:
Jones later claimed that he hit Biyombo below the belt unintentionally and that he had no idea that he had injured him until he saw him laid out on the court grimacing in pain. But despite his plea of innocence, the NBA didn’t buy it, and they ultimately suspended Jones for Game 4 of the ECF and also docked him some pay.
LeBron James later stepped up and said he would take care of Jones’ lost salary, because, well, LeBron can clearly afford it. But as it turns out, LeBron isn’t going to have to dig too deep into his pockets to find the money to pay for Jones’ fine. That’s because Jones—who signed with the Cavaliers right before their final regular season game in April—is only slated to make about $9,000 in salary. And since the NBA fines players 1/110th of their salary per game when they are suspended, Jones will only stand to lose about $80 due to his suspension. Eighty bucks is obviously nothing to LeBron.
On the other side, Raptors head coach Dwane Casey was fined $25,000 for criticizing the NBA’s officials following Game 3. No word yet on whether or not his players are going to scrounge together some money to help him out with that.
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