Hawks owner gearon fined

Atlanta Hawks owner Michael Gearon became the latest person to be fined by the National Basketball Association for comments about LeBron James that violated the league's anti-tampering rules.

Gearon was fined $25,000 for comments he made to an Atlanta newspaper about James, who is under contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers but due to become a free agent on July 1, the league said on Thursday.

NBA rules do not permit teams to talk about other teams' players until free agency begins.