NBA issues fines for Mavericks-Hornets altercation instigated by black belt James Johnson

The NBA doled out fines for Wednesday’s altercation between the Dallas Mavericks and Charlotte Hornets.

Mavericks forward James Johnson, who both initiated and escalated the incident, received a $40,000 fine for following his shove of Hornets forward Cody Martin with a headbutt. Martin earned a $25,000 fine “for pushing Johnson in retaliation and making contact with a game official” during the ensuing commotion.

Hornets forward Caleb Martin was fined $20,000 for coming to his twin brother’s defense and “entering the altercation,” per the NBA. He too made contact with an official in the aftermath of the initial shoving match.

The incident occurred with 2:40 left in Charlotte’s 118-99 blowout of Dallas. In the moment, both Johnson and Cody Martin were issued technical fouls and ejected from the game — garbage time personified.

It is probably best the altercation did not escalate beyond the headbutt. The son of a seven-time world kickboxing champion father and five-time national kickboxing champion mother, Johnson has a second-degree black belt and is undefeated in seven mixed martial arts fights and 21 kickboxing competitions.

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Ben Rohrbach is a staff writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach

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