Cuban Gets $500,000 Fine

Dallas Maverick owner Mark Cuban took another shot at NBA officials Tuesday after the league hit him with a record $500,000 fine.

“The fact of the matter is the NBA is more about power than it is about getting the best possible product or even protecting its players,” said Cuban, a longtime critic of game officials. He was fined seven times last season for a total of $505,000.

The latest fine--the largest against an individual in NBA history--came in response to Cuban’s comments about the officiating after the Mavericks’ 105-103 loss to San Antonio on Saturday.

“Relative to the size of the industry, it’s a pittance,” Cuban told ESPN.

As in the past, Cuban is matching the fine with a contribution to charity.

The largest team fine was the $3.5 million NBA Commissioner David Stern imposed on the Minnesota Timberwolves on Oct. 25, 2000, for making a secret deal with forward Joe Smith.

Cuban said he became angered Saturday when he thought the Spurs’ Tim Duncan traveled on several occasions.

“It happened multiple times right in front of me and they didn’t do a thing,” said Cuban, who has been especially critical of league director of officials Ed Rush.

“Ed Rush might have been a great ref, but I wouldn’t hire him to manage a Dairy Queen,” Cuban said in a story in The Dallas Morning News. “His interest is not in the integrity of the game or improving the officiating.”

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The Charlotte Hornets are expected to ask the NBA for permission to move to New Orleans, the Charlotte Observer reported in today’s editions. The decision would again dash Anaheim’s hopes of luring an NBA team to the Arrowhead Pond.

Memphis point guard Jason Williams apologized for calling his team the worst in the NBA.

Williams was fined an undisclosed sum by the Grizzlies for his comment after a fourth consecutive loss on Sunday, the team said.

“I apologize for the way I reacted to our frustrating loss,” Williams said in a statement.

“I am a competitor. I said some things in the heat of the moment.”