Reports: Co-owner's candor about OKC costs him $250K

ESPN.com news services

Updated: August 23, 2007, 8:35 AM ET

The NBA has fined Seattle SuperSonics co-owner Aubrey McClendon $250,000 for comments he made last week about his hopes for moving the franchise to Oklahoma City.

According to Seattle-area media reports, the NBA did not specifiy the reason for the fine. In the past, Commissioner David Stern has fined owners for statements and actions deemed not in the best interest of the league.

"But we didn't buy the team to keep it in Seattle; we hoped to come here," McClendon, the chief executive of Chesapeake Energy, told The Journal Record of Oklahoma City for a story published Aug. 12. "We know it's a little more difficult financially here in Oklahoma City, but we think it's great for the community and if we could break even, we'd be thrilled."

Majority owner Clay Bennett has set an Oct. 31 deadline for an agreement on a new arena in Seattle. Otherwise, he has promised to begin relocating the team. Kansas City, which is seeking an anchor tenant for its new arena, has also been rasied as an option.

"They've got 60 days to make some decisions they haven't been willing to make in the past year," McClendon was quoted as saying, "and if they make them in a way that satisfies Clay, then the team will stay there. If they don't meet the requirements he's laid out, the team will move, and Clay has indicated they'll come to Oklahoma City."

Shortly thereafter, Bennett issued a statement calling the comments were McClendon's "personal thoughts" and said McClendon was "not speaking on behalf of the ownership group."

The NBA responded to McClendon's remarks in a statement on Aug. 14, saying: "We have been assured by Mr. Bennett that Aubrey McClendon does not speak on behalf of the team."

Bennett's ownership group purchased the Sonics from a group led by Howard Schultz a year ago.

It must be something in the water or Marbs giving out PR advice.

Marbury was asked about this:

"MclendanBury is ok with me. His thinkier comments was from the heart. Just like when I speak, its from the heart, it makes me happy, the joy just spills out like I am cleansing my bowels! It make me happy, its a happy enima to flush my sadness away and see with clarity the joy in my heart, and the spit in your mouth!".

He ain't paying that ****. NBA cannot make owners pay for anything.