I guess we can cross the Golden State Warriors off the list of potential landing sites for Ben Simmons.

Joe Lacob, owner of the Golden State Warriors, has been fined $50,000 by the NBA for comments he made about potentially acquiring Ben Simmons during an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle. Lacob was fined by the NBA for tampering after expressing doubt the Warriors would pursue Simmons in a trade.

His reasoning? He questions if Simmons has what it takes to close out games and he makes a crap ton of money.

“In some ways, it doesn’t really fit what we’re doing,” Lacob told the Chronicle. “He makes a lot of money. And, can he finish games? I don’t know. He’s very talented. The problem is: We have Draymond. Draymond and him are very similar in the sense that neither one really shoots and they do a lot of the playmaking. That’s one issue. The salary structure is another.”

Listen for a moment. Close your eyes and listen….do you hear it? That soft murmur dancing through the trees, atop the delicate fall breeze…it’s the sound of 1.5 million Philadelphians solemnly nodding along in agreement with everything Lacob just said.

Has anyone been fined this much money before by the NBA for speaking 100% the truth? What did he say that was wrong? Have to imagine the entire fanbase breathed a sigh of relief when he had to put his foot down and say there was no chance Simmons would bring the ball up for the Warriors next year.

Is this the first instance of tampering by an owner where he was actively trying to keep a player OFF his team? DO YOU SEE WHAT YOU DO TO PEOPLE, SIMMONS? You drive everyone so crazy and you’re so divisive you force NBA team owners to make public declarations that you’ll never step onto their court wearing the home team’s jersey.