Kyrie Irving fined $25k and Stephen A. Smith goes off on him



Two big stories around the NBA over the first week of training camp have been James Harden being AWOL in Houston as he tries to force a trade and Kyrie Irving saying that he won't speak to the media this yer. Of course both are finable offenses. You can't just sign a contract and not go to work. Harden has been lucky that he hasn't been fined for unexcused days off. And in the case of former Celtics All-Star guard and headache Kyrie Irving it is also part of the collective baraining agreement that you make yourself accessible to the media. I'm sure there are other requirements in there as well that the NBA keeps on the hush like NBA Cares stuff, but the media one is something that comes up from time to time. It's why you've gotten Rasheed Wallace's "Both teams played hard" classic response or Russell Westbrook's "next question." Was wondering when Adam Silver would step in here and today he has with $25,000 fines for both Kyrie and the Nets. My guess is the Nets fine is for the fact they didn't have Kyrie available for the media and/or didn't punish him. I'm sure the Nets would prefer to just pay the $25K than to have crossed their moody flat earther. And if you haven't see this video from a couple days ago, it's a joy to watch. Regarding Harden, at first he wanted to be traded to the Nets and only the Nets. Next Philadelphia also became acceptable. Today he's added Miami to his list of teams he would play for. And note that no Harden is not a free agent. He's just being a diva star who's used to getting everything he wants and expects to be able to have his cake and eat it to, by getting the most money he could from any team in the Rockets, but then demanding a trade elsewhere. That's called free agency buddy.