Radmanovic Fined $500,000 for Lying About All-Star Break Injury

Vladamir Radmanovic will miss at least the next two months of the Los Angeles Lakers season due to an injury caused by a snowboarding accident that occurred on February 17th. The interesting part of this is that he was fined $500,000 by the Lakers for lying about exactly what happened to cause his separated shoulder.

Radmanovic originally told Lakers management that he had slipped on some ice while walking and hurt himself; something he admitted to lying about last friday to Lakers coaches and management.

"I just want to move forward and try to get healthy and get back on the court," said Radmonovic after learning about the fine being charged to him for lying and violating his contract which forbids snowboarding and other similar activities.

The injury happened over the NBA All-Star break while Radmanovic was enjoying some time in Park City, Utah.

As said before, the fine that was passed down for his activities was $500,000; a whopping 10% of his total salary for the year. Radmanovic was scheduled to make $5.2 million for this season alone after being signing a $30.2 million contract for 5 years in the off-season. He has now forfeited up a good portion of that.

"We discussed internally among our coach, ownership and management a variety of disciplinary options and thought that this was the fairest and most appropriate action," said Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak.

Radmanovic, who plays just under 20 minutes a game for Los Angeles and averages 6.9 points and 3.4 rebounds per game is lucky to still be employed by the Lakers. General Managers and owners take contracts very seriously, especially the areas that concern a player's health. He had supposedly never tried snowboarding before, and it is probable that he will never try again, at least until he no longer has a contract to uphold.

This situation should serve as a warning for any other professional athletes that they should honor their contracts and refrain from prohibited activities. Most athletes do, but this is a great example of what can happen when you don't. Some players may not care about not being able to play, but it is a certainty that every professional athlete cares about their money.

The Lakers will be looking forward to Radmanovic's return to the lineup. "We consider this a closed issue now and look forward to Vlade's return to action where he'll be able to use his talents to help our team," said Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak.

Sites cited for information:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2784898

http://www.lakers.com