Kyle Lowry Rips Mark Stevens: 'He Shouldn't Be Part Of Our League'
Kyle Lowry has spoken out on an ugly incident from Game 3 of the NBA Finals that saw a Golden State Warriors supporter shove him. Obviously now we know the man in question was Warriors minority owner Mark Stevens.
Lowry unloaded on him Thursday as well as expanding on the incident, claiming Stevens was vulgar to him during the game:
Lowry confirms that Stevens told him “go f—- yourself” multiple times.
— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) June 6, 2019
“I think more should be done. He’s not a good look for ownership...He shouldn’t be part of our league.”
Lowry also says he knows Lacob etc are better than that.
He’s right, it’s a terrible look for the league and the NBA acted swiftly and banned Stevens for one year today and fined him $500,000. The 59-year-old was also ejected from the arena after the incident Wednesday night. And the Warriors issued a statement immediately saying that Stevens would not be back for any of the NBA Finals games and had been indefinitely suspended from all team-related activities.
The NBA and Warriors have banned Warriors investor Mark Stevens from NBA games for one year and fined him $500,000 for altercation with Raptors All-Star Kyle Lowry.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 6, 2019
The NBA is making all the right moves here. It may have seemed like a small incident, but GQ’s Nathaniel Friedman pointed out exactly why this is important:
If Kyle Lowry walked into Mark Stevens’s office and shoved him he would be arrested. https://t.co/BzjB13s6us
— Nathaniel Friedman (@freedarko) June 6, 2019
It’s also worth noting that if Lowry had responded to the shove by shoving or punching Stevens, he likely would have faced a long suspension by the league.
If Stevens had been a normal fan this would have been bad, but the fact that he’s a minority owner of a team makes it even worse. The Warriors should buy him out because he shouldn’t be involved with the NBA anymore.