The NBA has suspended two Pistons players and nine Magic players for their roles in an altercation during the second quarter of Wednesday’s game, the league has announced (Twitter link).
Pistons guard Killian Hayes was given the harshest punishment, a three-game suspension without pay. Magic center Moritz Wagner has been suspended for two games, while Detroit guard Hamidou Diallo was also dinged for a one-game suspension. Both Hayes and Diallo will be held out of the team’s road game against the Bulls Friday.
Hayes, Wagner and Diallo were all ejected from the game Wednesday night, which Detroit won 121-101, for their roles in the on-court confrontation that began when Wagner hip-checked Hayes out of bounds into the Pistons’ bench while the two were scrambling for a loose ball. Diallo subsequently shoved Wagner in the back, but Hayes then escalated the conflict when he punched Wagner in the back of the head. Wagner appeared to lose consciousness after the hit. Several Magic players left the bench to support Wagner and all have been penalized for doing so.
The NBA is additionally suspending eight additional Orlando players after they left the bench to support Wagner during the scuffle: guards Cole Anthony, R.J. Hampton, Gary Harris and Kevon Harris, swingmen Franz Wagner and Admiral Schofield, and big men Wendell Carter Jr. and Mo Bamba. All eight players will receive one-game bans.
The NBA’s press release indicates that the absences of the Magic players will be staggered to ensure the team has enough available bodies for its ensuing two contests. Anthony, Gary Harris, Hampton, Bamba, and Carter will miss Orlando’s next game on Friday against the Wizards. Wagner will also begin his two-game suspension on Friday. The others will miss the club’s January 4 matchup with the Thunder.
Nice. So the Magic will play their next game with 3 players. Awesome.
Thus is why you don’t comment when it says more to come.
Thus
Typos are funny.
They’re tanking anyway so they’d be all for it
They’re not tanking. Someone’s not paying attention.
How about they just take an L on the next game?
Just to get out ahead of it: certain folks on other threads have been calling Hayes “violent” and (you know who you are) “ghetto.” For anyone about to post the same stuff here, would love to know what you thought of Jokic’s retaliation on Morris.
link to m.youtube.com (If you missed it)
Oh, so many people on here were super happy that Jokic did that to Morris. You know, because Morris is a “thug”
Jokich got suspended for one game for retaliation against Morris. I’m not sure why Morris committed an intentional hard foul against Jokich since Miami was down by 17 with 2 1/2 minutes to go and the game was over.
Jokic*
Throwing a B punch from the back is different than shoving/running into someone. Do you see no one is talking bad about Diallo doing what Jokic did? No because that’s the price you pay for those types of actions and Diallo did what he needed to do. Punches from the back are for Bs.
NBA is a league of thugs that encourages violence with petty fines. Many of these boys should get assault charges for their actions, but the NBA endorses their violence with meaningless suspensions.
The fans love the fighting so the NBA encourages it by not taking any real action.
Disappointing, but consistent.
Because no other professional sports leagues operates the same way. Spoiler alert: they all do the same thing.
And no, assault charges would be a gross overreaction. When you’re playing hundreds or thousands of minutes a year in a competitive, physical, and fact-paced setting, things are bound to escalate once in a while. Stuff happens in the heat of the moment. I don’t say that to totally excuse the actions of the offenders; I just don’t think such incidents should be treated as an normal assault would be.
That all said, I agree that these suspensions are weak, as they almost always are. It’s pathetic, really, but that’s the business side of sports. Any blows to the head of an unsuspecting player should be met with at least a week’s suspension, if not a full 10 games. Can’t tolerate that crap.
I will say, though, that this is something the NBPA could always address in the next CBA. But since they haven’t to this point, it’s clear it isn’t a priority for them. And if the players’ representation doesn’t care after player safety on this issue—and by extension, the players themselves—why should the rest of us?
Far more people complain about the “hands off” nature of the current NBA. What was a “hard foul” 30 years ago gets a suspension now. The Laimbeer era Pistons and several other teams were far, far more violent than today’s teams. If you drove baseline on Maurice Lucas you were knocked into the crowd and no foul was called. Karl Malone’s elbows went largely unpunished. When players made $80,000 brutality was everywhere. Today’s salaries cause the Association to be ultra careful with the assets, therefore the thugs are few.
I want to see Isaac play ……
Wagner did shove Hayes. He started it.
You need to get control of this quicker. There should be two guards at each bench.
Yea, Moe Wagner was definitely at fault.
He’s usually an instigator that annoys opponents, but it’s always verbal not physical like this one was…you could tell he knew he went too far right away.
But really the whole game was a poorly officiated mess…both sides were getting frustrated long before that incident. IMO the refs created the conditions for the incident to occur.
I’m just numb to the whole Jonathan Isaac dilemma now. He’s a mirage.
Early in summer he said he’d be ready for the season…then on media day the front office said he was close and just needed to get his conditioning back. We’re now almost at midway point of the season and he’s still “ramping up his conditioning.”
I just have to pretend he doesn’t exist or the unfulfilled anticipation will drive me crazy.
On New Years Day, it will be the 3 year anniversary since Isaac started a game for the Magic.
The Jonathan Issac saga in Orlando is fascinating; will he ever play for the Magic again?
Wow! The league really favored DET here, Hayes was the instigator & culprit, Wagner didn’t do anything at all… them folks from ORL bench had to come out to check Wagner as he was felled in the bench of DET… can’t understand the league’s way of thinking!
Hayes deserved his suspension, but let’s be clear, so did Wagner — his shove on Hayes was what started it, was pretty clearly on purpose and unprovoked, and was the kind of thing that could really injure a guy. Not as bad as taking a swing, but he’s not some innocent bystander here.
What you said but I will diverge a bit, Hayes should have been suspended a game or two longer than what he received. The current narrative is the seriousness of brain injuries, so if you’re going to attack someone in the back of the head… you need a much more meaningful amount of time to think about your actions.
Yeah kind of agree. The suspension for Hayes felt light considering what happened. Not like it was an accidental hit to the head…he knew where he was aiming.
Wagner deserved getting tossed from the game.
But he hip checked Hayes trying to stop him from picking up a loose ball in the open court – which happens all the time in the NBA, just on less volatile parts of the court.
His two games suspension is excessive given that Hayes only got a measly 3 games for a much more violent and retaliatory action. One that was a blow to the head to a very dangerous location.
The fact that it was Detroit legend Joe Dumars who handed out the suspensions just makes it even more egregious.
It’s an automatic suspension for leaving your bench area regardless of the issue. I think everybody understands why the Magic players did leave the bench area. To a large degree its up to the coaching staff/other staff (and the players) to not leave the bench area. It sucks but its keeping it consistent with the in place rules.
This is a complete joke…
I get suspensions for escalating…
But for Hayes to only get one more game than anyone else is ludicrous…
The NBA is just asking for another Malice in the Palace…
Hayes deserves a harsher punishment. That was a straight on assault on a guy who couldn’t fight back
3 games. What a joke silver