Anthony Davis.Photo: Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
According toCBS Sports, Davis — who has spent a lot of time on the bench after requesting to be traded from the team — did not play in the game.
The following day, the NBA announced they had fined the player “for directing an obscene gesture toward a fan” as he was leaving the court.
Fan accountPelicans Wavelater posted a screenshot from an alleged direct message conversation with Davis, where the NBA player reportedly wrote that “some fan disrespected me” and “said something I didn’t like.”
Anthony Davis.Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
In January, the player was fined $50,000 after his agent, Rich Paul, told ESPN that Daviswould not be signing a contract extensionwith the Pelicans.
Paul went on to tell the outlet that his client “wants to be traded to a team that allows him a chance to win consistently and compete for a championship.”
In explanation of the fine, the NBA said Davis hadviolated a “collectively-bargained ruleprohibiting players or their representatives from making public trade demands,”USA Todayreported.
According to ESPN, $50,000 is the most an NBA player can be fined without being allowed to file a grievance.
The previous year — after Los Angeles Lakers starLeBron James, who shares the same agent as Davis, made a comment about how he’d love to play with the Pelicans star — the NBA sent out a memo reminding teamsnot to violate the league’s “anti-tampering rule,”according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Last month, the Utah Jazz issued two lifetime bans over separate incidents involving Oklahoma City Thunder player Russell Westbrook, according to theWashington Post. The outlet reported that one incident stemmed from a fan calling Westbrook “boy” during the 2018 playoffs, while another stemmed from averbal altercationhe got into with a fan during a March 11 game.
In March, the Boston Celtics also reportedlyissued a temporary banagainst a fan who allegedly used a racial slur against Golden State Warriors center DeMarcus Cousins earlier this year.
source: people.com
