Dahntay Jones is set to make $127 for his time on the Cleveland Cavilers.
The 36-year-old veteran was signed on the last day of the NBA season by the Cavs. He was signed to fill the bottom of the bench. His base salary was for $9,127, but because of the fines he has picked up in his limited number of minutes, he will only receive $127 of the $9,127.
Jones was fined $6,000 after he was ejected in game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals matchup against the Toronto Raptors. With less than 3 minutes to play, the Cavilers held a 114-102 lead against Toronto. Jones was uncontested as he dunked and started trash talking Raptors center Jakob Poeltl. Jones was called for the technical foul and was ejected upon continuing to argue with referees.
Teammate LeBron James looked exasperated while watching from the bench. “I said I was going to pay the fine before I even knew what it was, so it didn’t matter,” James told reporters last month. Jones would be fined and ejected from game 3 of the Toronto series.
“I told him tonight, I said, ‘Listen, Dahntay. Enough is enough. Stop getting kicked out against Toronto all the time. I’m gonna have to stop paying your damn fines.’ Yeah, he don’t have to worry about it. He’s good,” James said.
Jones was fined $80 in game 3 for hitting Raptors Bismack Biyombo in the groin, and was suspended for game 4.
He would further his rap sheet against Golden State as he received another technical for trash talking on the Cavilers’ bench, earning him a $3,000 fine from the league.
A GoFundMe has been started to pay off all of Jones’ fines. Cleveland fan Ricky Smith started the account. The fund is currently at $210 of its $6,000 goal (Smith started the fund after game 1 of the Conference Semifinals). Smith said on his page that money not spent of fines will be donated to the charity of Jones’ choice.
