The NBA announced that they have fined Los Angeles Lakers star $15,000 for making an obscene gesture while celebrating on the court in the fourth quarter of Wednesday night’s win over the Indiana Pacers. Additionally, James was also warned for using profane language during media availability in response to league imposed discipline.
The “big balls” celebration, which was made famous by Sam Cassell, is a popular celebration amongst players in the NBA today, although is clearly quickly to be a fined offense from the NBA with James being the latest.
After being suspended for the Lakers’ loss to the New York Knicks for his role in the altercation with Detroit Pistons big man Isaiah Stewart, which he criticized the league for and earned a warning, James was clearly happy to be back on the court against the Pacers.
James finished with a season-high 39 points, hitting a number of big threes down the stretch, which led to the celebration. In addition to the Cassell dance, James also brought back his famous celebration from his Miami Heat days that he calls “The Silencer.”
Lakers head coach Frank Vogel didn’t seem to mind James’ celebrations as he called it a “performance for the ages,” helping L.A. get back in the win column to finish the road trip.
James says celebrations were byproduct of his passion for the game
After the game, James explained why he was celebrating more than usual down the stretch.
“I’m playing the game, I’m gonna play with a lot of joy and a lot of passion. Just excitement to be able to play a game and just love it still, my career. And to know that my teammates look for me to lead them, I take that with a lot of responsibility. So it was just a byproduct of it, we had a lot of Laker fans here and a lot of people came to see us play, came to see me play and I was just trying to make plays for them.”
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