The NBA Slapped The Rockets Owner With A Six-Figure Fine For Arguing With A Ref

During the Rockets’ series clinching win over the Thunder in Game 5 of their first round series, a curious moment happened on the sidelines in the first quarter. After apparently disagreeing with a call or non-call against his team, Rockets owner Les Alexander walked down the sideline to confront referee Bill Kennedy briefly before returning to his seat.

This is a major no-no for the NBA, which protects its referees to a great degree. A player or coach ranting about bad officiating in a post-game presser can quickly catch a $25,000 or more fine, so it came as no surprise that Alexander was handed down a swift and heavy fine as a result of this incident. The league announced on Wednesday that Alexander would be fined $100,000 for his actions on Tuesday night in “confronting a referee in live game action.”

This came after an investigation from the league into the incident, which determined that Alexander was out of line with his actions worthy enough of a hefty fine. The precedence for Alexander’s fine comes from, surprise surprise, Mark Cuban, who was also fined $100,000 for confronting referees back in 2014 after a game. The NBA doesn’t like it when anyone calls into question the integrity of referees, but that’s especially the case for owners, who can expect to fork over six figures for any antagonization of an official in person.

This fine makes Tuesday night even more expensive than it already was for Alexander, as the Rockets were hosting $1 beer night at the arena.