Joakim Noah: NBA Lets Noah off the Hook with $50K Fine for Gay Slur

Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah has been fined $50,000 for the gay slur he directed at a fan during Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat on Sunday night, according to ESPN.

The incident occurred when Noah was sent to the bench with two early fouls about midway through the first quarter. He turned around and started shouting at a fan behind the Chicago bench, and was caught on camera using a homophobic insult.

Noah would go on to score one point and grab five rebounds, and the Bulls lost the game 96-85.

Noah's fine is half of the $100,000 fine Kobe Bryant had to pay for directing a gay slur at a referee during a late-season game against the San Antonio Spurs.

As ESPN has reported, NBA spokesman Tim Frank said that Noah's situation wasn't quite the same as Bryant's.

"Kobe's fine included discipline for verbal abuse of a game official," said Frank.

That may be so, but that doesn't hide the fact that Noah is getting off pretty much scot-free with this fine.

Because this was the second time in the last two months that player has been caught using a gay slur, it stood to reason that the NBA would throw the book at Noah in order to send a louder message than the one they sent with Bryant's fine.

Instead, the NBA is taking a small chunk of Noah's $3 million-plus salary, and they're not robbing him of any playoff action. Unfortunately, a slap on the wrist like that is probably not going to dispel the suddenly widespread notion that the NBA has a serious homophobia problem.

If that problem actually exists, one supposes the NBA will get another shot to send an appropriate message.

That's not necessarily a good thing.