Dahntay Jones Was Fined Almost His Entire Salary For Three Minutes Of Play

Dahntay Jones signed a veteran’s minimum contract with the Cavaliers on the very last day of the regular season, meaning that his prorated salary for the year was $9,127. The 36-year-old earned three garbage-time minutes at the end of last night’s win over the Raptors, and in those three minutes he managed to dunk a big dunk, get ejected from the game, and accrue $6,000 in fines.

Jones received his first technical foul after dunking the ball and talking some shit with 18 seconds left in the game. While the refs were sorting things out, he somehow received another tech for saying something rude to Raptors guard Norman Powell, which got him ejected from the game. Each of those techs comes with an automatic $3,000 fine.

Jones, who has been in the league since 2003, can probably afford to pay the fines, but LeBron James told reporters after the game that he would be covering Jones’s costs so as to save him from the unpleasantness of losing most of his season salary in a few minutes:

It’s good that James is backstopping Jones here, because a Dahntay Jones who does not feel liberated to make stinkfaces and yap at opponents is a Dahntay Jones we never want to see.