Chicago Bulls guard Marco Belinelli made a big three-point shot in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game seven win over the Brooklyn Nets. This was how he decided to celebrate. Yesterday USA Today reported that Belinelli’s “obscene gesture,” also known as the “Sam Cassell dance” had earned him a $15,000 fine from the league. The penalty sparked minor outrage among NBA watchers on Twitter, including this from Grantland’s reliably excellent Zach Lowe:
And this one from Henry Abbott:
Thanks to the data crunchers at online ticket broker SeatCrunch, we can see just where Belinelli’s “salute to man power” fits in the catalogue of NBA no-nos in the past decade. Of the 341 fines handed out since 2003, according to SeatCrunch, 13 have been for obscene gestures that have cost players a combined $240,000 (about $18,500 on average).
Belinelli, it appears, got off easy. The most frequent fine, by the way, is for complaining about referees, with 81 fines totaling $2.1 million out of an overall total of $11.5 million. That money ends up getting split between the league and the players union, which both donate it to undisclosed charities of their choosing.
The fine leader board shows Rasheed Wallace tops among players, with 8 fines for $205,000; Phil Jackson among coaches, with 10 for $380,000; and Mark Cuban among owners, with 10 for $835,000.
Going back to 2000, when Cuban bought the Mavericks, he has accounted for ten percent of the total money paid in fines, with $1.84 million. That’s about 100 lewd dances worth.
