While the biggest news coming out of Oakland on Wednesday night should’ve been the Toronto Raptors taking a 2-1 lead on the Golden State Warriors, the first Finals loss at Oracle Arena for the Warriors since 2016, the Raps performance has been overshadowed by the actions of Golden State’s part-owner. Mark Stevens was sitting courtside when Kyle Lowry went barreling into the crowd chasing after a loss ball, and shoved Lowry as the Raptors point guard attempted to get back onto the court. Lowry also said Stevens used derogatory language toward him.
LeBron James was watching the game, presumably from his home in Los Angeles, and Stevens’ actions bothered him enough that James wrote a long post on Instagram expressing his disgust with what happened.
“There’s absolutely no place in our BEAUTIFUL game for that AT ALL,” James wrote in a caption accompanying video of the altercation. “When you sit courtside you absolutely know what comes with being on the floor and if you don’t know it’s on the back on the ticket itself that states the guidelines. But 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 knew the rules more than just the average person sitting watching the game courtside so for that Something needs to be done ASAP! A swift action for his actions.”
In a statement, the Warriors announced Stevens would not be present at any more games during the NBA Finals as they conduct an investigation into what happened. In response to a Rachel Nichols tweet about the team’s decision, James said more needed to be done.
Ok cool but still ain’t enough! They did exactly what they had to do. Get in front of it before anyone else and plus there’s only 4 games left(2 max in GS).
— LeBron James (@KingJames) June 6, 2019
There was already pressure on the NBA to do more than just remove Stevens from his courtside seat for a few games. With James’ voice now added to the fray, and Lowry himself calling for Stevens to be completely banned, Adam Silver and the Warriors have all eyes on them as their investigation moves forward.
