Atlanta Hawks Owner Fined for LeBron Comments

One of the owners of the NBA's Atlanta has been fined for tampering comments he made about free agent-to-be LeBron James.

This is funny to me as the Hawks have no chance in signing LeBron.

Joel Litvin, NBA president of league and basketball operations, made the announcement Thursday that Gearon would be fine $25,000.

Gearon's comments violate the NBA's anti-tampering rules. If he doesn't reach a deal with Cleveland by July 1, James would become the best player to reach the free-agent market in years.

Gearon's comments:  "If somebody came to us tomorrow and said you can have LeBron for max money and it puts you in the luxury tax, I’d do it in a a heartbeat. But am I going to do that for Ilgauskas? Am I going to do it for Jermaine O’Neal? I don’t think so. . . "

It's the second time in a week that the NBA has fined a team owner for tampering. The league fined Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban $100,000 for comments he made during an interview with CNNMoney.com.