Nets GM Sean Marks Suspended for Entering Official's Locker Room

After the Nets lost to the 76ers on Saturday, GM Sean Marks was apparently so unhappy with the way the game was called that he paid the referees a visit in their locker room post-game. As it turns out, it was an expensive trip. The NBA has announced that he’s been fined $25,000 and suspended one game for his visit.

A suspension for the GM likely means that he can’t attend Game 5 on Tuesday. The whole situation is unusual, to say the least; it’s nearly unheard of for anybody to visit the officials locker room to discuss the game, much less the GM of the losing team. It’s also not every day that a GM is suspended by the league. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports Marks went to confront officials about Joel Embiid’s flagrant foul calls in games 2 and 4.

Of course, this won’t have any sort of impact on the outcome of the game Marks will be suspended for. Once the playoffs start and no transactions occur, Marks’ job is essentially finished. But the league has always cracked down on the criticism of officials, and this generally falls into that category. At least the Nets players know that Marks is willing to go to bat for them over what he considered to be unfair treatment, which is great for locker room morale after they went down 3-1 in the series.