The Hoops Loop

From NBA All-star’s to role players, no player throughout the history of the NBA has been immune from being punished for any misconduct by the watchful eyes of the league office. In this article, we list the top 3 largest fines given by a team, or the NBA, to a player.

Why Fine?

The NBA utilises fines as a form of penalty as they are viewed as an effective means of preserving balance and order by deterring and denouncing unacceptable or undesirable behaviour. Furthermore, the fines the NBA employ are done so under an array of rules that are binding under the NBA Constitution and defined in the NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). In the recently agreed upon 2023 CBA, new rules, guidelines and powers were introduced concerning the maximum allowable fiscal penalty for players engaging in misconduct.

The 2023 CBA stipulates under a new rule that the NBA commissioner is empowered to impose the maximum fine sanctionable of $100,000 USD if:

1. In the opinion of the commissioner, conduct from a player is prejudicial or detrimental to the best interests of the game of basketball, the NBA, or a team, or
2. A player engages in acts that violate the NBA tampering rules

Since the inception of this new rule we have already seen it employed to it’s maximum allowance of $100,000 twice, in cases that are mentioned within the list below. Continue reading to find out what players received the worst fines in NBA history.

Honourable Mention: P.J Tucker

In what would rank in the #4 position, P.J Tucker was fined $75,000 for reasons similar to the case of James Harden, except that Tucker made his trade desires public through the form of comments provided for a news article, whereby he stated that he was “actively trying to get traded”.

3. Kobe Bryant, James Harden, Rudy Gobert: $100,000

Coming in at third place, we have a three-way tie at a stifling $100,000 between Kobe Bryant, and more recently, James Harden and Rudy Gobert. Find out below why each player was fined so harshly by the NBA.

• Kobe Bryant was fined $100,000 by the then NBA Commissioner, David Stern for using a homophobic slur during a match versus the San Antonio Spurs in 2011. Stern released a statement in an official press release stating that the “distasteful term” Bryant said during play “[has] no place within the game or broader society”, per the NBA Communications.

• James Harden was fined the maximum penalty under the new CBA of $100,000 for making a public trade request during a promotional marketing event for the shoe brand he is signed with, Adidas. Harden declared that he would not play for the team unless the GM Daryl Morey was fired.

• Like Harden, Rudy Gobert was also handed the same maximum penalty of $100,000 recently for an indecent gesture towards an official during the end of the game when he rubbed his fingers and made a money sign. The gesture was made after Gobert received a technical foul call in what would become an eventual overtime loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. After the match, Gobert reiterated his acts during his media availability and expressed frustration regarding the growing influence of betting in the sports landscape, saying that it is “becoming bigger and bigger, but it shouldn’t feel that way”.

2. Latrell Sprewell, Damon Stoudamire*: $250,000

In at second is a two-way tie at an eye watering $250,000. This figure has been imposed on players in the NBA only two times, with both players receiving the fines from their respective teams of the time.

• In the ramp up for the beginning of the 2002 NBA season, All-Star guard for the New York Knicks, Latrell Sprewell had been fined $250,000 for not fulfilling his obligations of reporting a hand injury he suffered two weeks prior to the start of training camp to the team. Sprewell described the root cause of the fracture of the right pinkie was caused from a fall on his private yacht.

• Damon Stoudamire in the summer of 2003 was caught in possession of Marijuana for the 3rd time in 18 months when he was caught in Arizona. The Portland Trailblazer’s, his current team at the time decided to fine Stoudamire $250,000 for his misconduct whilst facing imminent legal procedures.

*IMPORTANT NOTE: Stoudamire was able to rejoin basketball activities with the Portland Trailblazers after his drug charges were suspended, additionally, the Blazers voided the $250,000 fine and Stoudamire instead donated $100,000 to Head Start, whilst being public and transparent with his sobriety journey.

1. Vladmir Radmanović: $500,000

In first place, and what is not only the singular most expensive fine in NBA history given to a player but also the most expensive lie in NBA history at an astounding $500,000.

• Vladimir Radmanović said that he informed the Lakers staff that he had slipped, fell and hurt his shoulder whilst on a casual walk on ice. However, as much as Radmanović would’ve liked the Lakers to believe his made-up story, he eventually confessed that during the All-Star break in 2007, whilst in Park City, Utah, he separated his shoulder in a snowboarding accident. Thus, due to the activity of snowboarding being prohibited in his contract due to the high risk of injury associated with the sport as well as being the primary cause of Vlade missing 2 months of action whilst recovering, the Los Angeles Lakers penalised Radmamović with a hefty $500,000 fine.