LeBron James: Warriors Minority Owner Mark Stevens' Finals Ban for Shoving Kyle Lowry 'Ain't Enough'

The Warriors announced earlier today that minority owner Mark Stevens was sorry for pushing Kyle Lowry in Game 3, and that he would not be attending any more games in these NBA Finals. Responding to a screenshot of the Warriors’ statement that Rachel Nichols tweeted, LeBron James opined that this punishment was insufficient:

Ok cool but still ain’t enough! They did exactly what they had to do. Get in front of it before anyone else and plus there’s only 4 games left(2 max in GS).
— LeBron James (@KingJames) June 6, 2019

If LeBron is saying that the Warriors got out in front of it before Stephens was identified, that would be incorrect. Axios identified Stephens before the Warriors released their statement. However, if LeBron means the Warriors are getting out in front before the NBA disciplines Stephens, that’s true.

Before the discipline was handed down, he posted this lengthy Instagram entry:

View this post on Instagram

?There’s absolutely no place in our BEAUTIFUL game for that AT ALL. There’s so many issues here. When you sit courtside you absolutely know what comes with being on the floor and if you don’t know it’s on the back on the ticket itself that states the guidelines. But he himself being a fan but more importantly PART-OWNER of the Warriors knew exactly what he was doing which was so uncalled for. He knew the rules more than just the average person sitting watching the game courtside so for that Something needs to be done ASAP! A swift action for his actions. Just think to yourself, what if @kyle_lowry7 would have reacted and put his hands back on him. You guys would be going CRAZY!! Calling for him to damn near be put in jail let alone being suspended for the rest of the Finals all because he was protected himself. I’ve been quite throughout the whole NBA playoffs watching every game (haven’t missed one) but after I saw what I saw last night, took time to let it manifest into my thinking ? I couldn’t and wouldn’t be quiet on this! #ProtectThePlayers #PrivilegeAintWelcomeHere

A post shared by LeBron James (@kingjames) on Jun 6, 2019 at 9:42am PDT

This is clearly a hot button issue, and whether or not it will blow over before next season remains to be seen.