Sports Time Radio

Kristaps Porzingis of the Dallas Mavericks was fined $50,000 by the NBA for visiting a topless strip club while the Mavericks where in Los Angeles to play the Los Angeles Clippers in Round 1 of the NBA playoffs.

Porzingis’s visit is in violation of the NBA’s COVID-19 rules banning players from clubs or bars whether or not they’ve been vaccinated. Luckily for the Mavericks the NBA has decided that Porzingis won’t have to quarantine and also will not be suspended.

Last night Porzingis pitched in 20 points and grabbed 4 rebounds as his Mavericks beat the Clippers 127 to 121 in Game 2 of their playoffs series. The Mavericks won both games in Los Angeles and have a 2-0 lead in the series as they head back home to Dallas.

What this story leads to is the fact that over the weekend LeBron James attended a outdoor party that also did not meet with the NBA’s Covid-19 guidelines. It was a good thing that the NBA didn’t try to make Porzingis quarantine or even to go so far as suspend him because they leveled no penalties what so ever against James; not even a fine. The NBA would’ve looked pretty bad if they had punished Porzingis while James walked away with nothing.

It been made quite clear that there’s a double standard for James as well as the Los Angeles Lakers; so even before the fine for Porzingis was announced the NBA was already covering their tracks on why they took no action against James. Even TNT analyst Charles Barkley said that “the NBA didn’t have the balls to suspend LeBron”.

Now this isn’t the only incident with the Lakers that the NBA is going to be watched on how they handle it. This one involves Anthony Davis.

In last nights 109-102 win over the Portland Trail Blazers last night Davis not only helped the Lakers even their series at one game apiece, but he pitched in 34 points and 10 rebounds. Along the way to those numbers he also managed to kick Trail Blazers forward Jae Crowder in the groin.

Now there are a lot of people out there that are saying it was unintentional because it happened while Davis was taking a jump shot, but go out and find the video for yourself and make your own decision.

Let’s face it since Davis plays for the Lakers absolutely nothing is going to come from this, but you have to wonder how the NBA would’ve handle this if it would’ve been any other player or someone like Draymond Green.

When you look back at Barkley’s quote he seems to have it 100% correct not only with James, but with anyone on the Lakers. I’m not sure why, but the NBA sees the Lakers and James as their meal ticket to success. Now it is true that the league does better when there are good teams in Los Angeles and Boston, but don’t forget that the Lakers where in the NBA finals last season and those finals generated some of the lowest television ratings in NBA history. Don’t forget that these finals took place while the majority of the country was stuck at home do the the Covid-19 pandemic. What else was their to do that no one wanted to turn on the NBA finals with James and the Lakers in it?

There may be people out their that don’t know this, but there are 29 other NBA teams besides the Lakers. Most of these teams also have up and coming young stars that the NBA could build their future around, but instead they chose to focus their commercials and their other attention towards the 36 year old James. Now I don’t have a degree in marketing, but that seems like a terrible business plan for a league that has teams all over America and is considered to be worldwide.

So let me know what you think. Was the fine for Porzingis fair? Do you think that James also should’ve been fined? Or possibly forced to quarantine for attending that party? Also should the NBA punish Davis for his groin shot last night? And if so what should that punishment be?

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