UPDATE 8:45 pm: The NBA league office has confirmed the $50,000 fine for Jason Kidd.
7:16 pm: Jason Kidd used a loophole in the rules to force a stoppage in play late in his team’s loss to the Lakers on Wednesday, and that bit of creativity is going to cost him a fair bit of cash in the form of a fine from the league office.
The NBA will fine Nets coach Jason Kidd $50,000 for his stunt with the dropped cup in loss to Lakers, league sources tell Yahoo.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) November 29, 2013
We saw this coming, and it sends a message that the league doesn’t want its players and especially its coaches gaming the system like this in order to gain an unfair advantage.
It’s worth wondering if Kidd’s post-game comments where he denied any intention, in combination with the video that clearly shows him telling his player to “hit me” before he dropped his drink on the court contributed to the amount of his fine.
“The cup slipped out of my hand,” Kidd said afterward. “I was getting tired. Sweaty palms. … In the heat of the battle you’re trying to get guys in and out of the game, and the coke fell out of my hand.”
Obviously, that was a complete fabrication.
The league’s fines are typically in the $25,000-$35,000 range for the majority of punishable offenses.