NEW YORK (CP-AP) - Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson was fined $25,000 US on Thursday for comments he made to the media about Toronto Raptors forward Chris Bosh.
The league also fined Indiana Pacers' forward Ron Artest $10,000 for his recent public trade request.
Jackson publicly expressed the Lakers' interest in Bosh, in violation of the NBA's anti-tampering rule, Stu Jackson, the NBA's senior vice-president of basketball operations, announced.
Prior to the Lakers' Dec. 8 game at Toronto, Jackson told reporters his team should have some room to sign some free agents next season, and mentioned Bosh as a player of interest.
''There are some that will be available in the year following that you obviously have to take a look at and this kid here is one of them,'' Jackson said. ''Chris Bosh, obviously everybody's going to be interested in and we think he's become quite a talent.''
Artest was penalized for ''making public statements detrimental to the NBA.''
He expressed his desire to be traded from the Indiana Pacers in a Dec. 11 story in the Indianapolis Star, and said he wanted to play for either the New York Knicks or Cleveland Cavaliers.
''Public trade demands by players was a subject discussed at length during collective bargaining negotiations this summer,'' senior vice-president and general counsel Rick Buchanan said in a statement. ''The damage caused by these kinds of statements was commonly understood, as was the NBA's intention to hold players accountable for such statements going forward.''
Artest is currently inactive while the Pacers seek to trade him.