LeBron James is saving Dahntay Jones from losing two-thirds of his salary

LeBron James told reporters he will pay the fine that cost Dahntay Jones two-thirds of his salary after the Cavaliers’ Eastern Conference semifinals Game 1 win over the Raptors on Monday.

”I told him tonight, I said, ‘Listen, Dahntay, now enough is enough. Stop getting kicked out against Toronto all the time. I’m going to stop paying your damn fines,’” James told reporters, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “But yeah, he don’t have to worry about it. He’s good.”

Jones played just two minutes in Cleveland’s 116-105 win, but was assessed back-to-back technical fouls and ejected with 19 seconds left in the fourth quarter. He picked up the first after a verbal spat with Raptors rookie Jakob Poeltl. The second came after a run-in with Toronto’s Norman Powell, who took exception with Jones’ late dunk that increased Cleveland’s lead to 14.

“It really wasn’t that intricate,” Jones told ESPN. “I don’t know what happened. All I said was, ‘You better not jump,’ and that got me the first tech. And then the second one, Norman walked up on me and said, ‘Don’t you do that s---!’

“And I said, ‘What are you doing to do?’ Like, ‘What you goin’ to do?’ And that’s two. So those are the exact words I said: ‘What are you going to do?’ No curse words.”

A technical foul comes with a mandatory $3,000 fine. Jones signed with the Cavaliers on the final day of the regular season, and his contract was worth a tick north of $9,000, which is 1/82 of the veteran’s minimum salary.

James and Jones have crossed this path before.

In Game 3 of last year’s Eastern Conference Finals, the veteran guard was suspended for hitting ex-Raptors big man Bismack Biyombo in the groin. A suspension does not come with a fine, but costs a player a game check. Jones made just $8,800 last season after signing with Cleveland on the final day of the regular season. He was fined $80.17, according to ESPN, equal to 1/110th of his salary.

James covered that fine, as well.