Warriors guard Shaun Livingston has been suspended for Monday’s game against the Pelicans for an altercation with official Courtney Kirkland, the league announced in a press release. The NBA’s Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations, Kiki VanDeWeghe, determined that Livington deserved a one-game penalty without pay for aggressively approaching Kirkland after a non-call and bumping heads with the official.
The incident, which occurred in the second quarter of the Warriors’ victory over the Heat on Sunday, resulted in Livingston’s ejection for making contact with an official. Livingston, who re-signed with the Warriors over the summer for three years and $24MM, is averaging 4.7 PPG and 2.0 APG in 15.2 MPG in his usual role of backing up Stephen Curry.
VanDeWeghe also ruled that Kirkland would be removed from the league’s officiating rotation for one week. Kirkland moved toward Livingston and shared responsibility for the contact, according to the review.
Glad the league made mention of and took action against the ref. He walked into Shaun and is by no means inocent.
Thinking back of the ref who threw out LeBron in a game last week, who just walked away from the situation after making the call. Handled it professionally.
Livingston Is not inocent either. There’s a great photo of him barking at the ref and leaning his head into the ref.