Pistons big man Isaiah Stewart has been suspended seven games by the NBA for leaving his team’s bench area, “aggressively” entering an on-court altercation, and fighting, the NBA announced on Wednesday in a press release (Twitter link).
The league also confirmed three more suspensions that stemmed from the fight between the Pistons and Hornets during Monday’s game. Hornets forward Miles Bridges and center Moussa Diabate have been suspended for four games apiece, while Pistons center Jalen Duren will be required to sit out for two games.
According to the NBA, Stewart received the most significant penalty in part because of his “repeated history of unsportsmanlike acts.” He was also the only one of the four suspended players who wasn’t already on the court and came from the bench to get involved in the melee.
Stewart was previously suspended two games for aggressively trying to confront LeBron James during a Nov. 2021 game; three games after punching Drew Eubanks prior to a game in Feb. 2024; and two games for his involvement in an altercation between the Pistons and Timberwolves last March. He also received an automatic one-game suspension last January after racking up six flagrant foul points.
The league stated that Bridges and Diabate each received four-game bans for “fighting and escalating the altercation,” while Duren was given a two-game suspension for “initiating the altercation and fighting.”
The incident occurred with just over seven minutes remaining in the third quarter of Monday’s matchup in Charlotte. Tensions between the two opposing centers came to a head after Duren received the inbound pass, drove into the lane, and was fouled hard by Diabate. The two players butted heads, then Duren pushed Diabate in the face, igniting a fight that lasted more than 30 seconds (YouTube link).
Bridges shoved Duren with two hands, while a furious Diabate rushed after and attempted to punch Duren. His punch didn’t connect as he was held by back Tobias Harris, but Diabate continued to pursue Duren, who slowly walked away along the baseline as the Hornets center was stopped by several coaches.
The incident seemed like it could have ended at that point, but then Bridges and Duren appeared to exchange words, and Bridges approached Duren and threw a left-handed punch. Duren responded with a right that didn’t connect as Stewart rushed onto the court to confront Bridges, who threw another punch. A brief and chaotic tussle ensued, with Stewart appearing to have Bridges in a headlock at one point, before the players were separated.
Duren will begin serving his suspension on Wednesday when the Pistons visit Toronto and will also miss the first game after the All-Star break, in New York. However, he’ll still be allowed to take part in his first All-Star game on Sunday, tweets NBA insider Chris Haynes.
Stewart, meanwhile, will miss the Raptors and Knicks games, then five more beyond that. He’d be eligible to return on March 3 in Cleveland. Paul Reed figures to take on a more prominent role in Detroit’s frontcourt with Duren and Stewart out.
Bridges and Diabate, meanwhile, will miss Wednesday’s Hornets game vs. Atlanta, as well as post-All-Star matchups with Houston (Feb. 19), Cleveland (Feb. 20), and Washington (Feb. 22).
The suspensions will cost each player 1/145th of his 2025/26 salary per game. That works out to $724,138 for Stewart, $689,655 for Bridges, $89,423 for Duren, and $62,641 for Diabate.
Moose was the instigator and the one who overreacted to duren getting his face out of his face. Happy to see duren got the least amount
Duren started it and should have gottebn 4 games too. Seriously he wasn’t hit that hard to face slam somebody.
Face slam? Come back to reality.
He just got him out of his face.
So you’re telling me that if you were nose to nose with someone and they did this to you, you would understand why it was being done and leave it at that, right?
“Nah, it’s cool, guys, he was just getting me out of his face.”
🤣🤣🤣
Diabate was beyond aggressive (head butts aren’t the same thing as “nose to nose”).
So if someone got up in your face and you’re nose to nose with them you’d just stand there?
sybau
Hornets fan here:
I understand the argument of if moose didn’t get in Durans face, nothing would have happened. But we see guys get in each others face all the time. I think it was durans face push on moose that started it all.
At the very least, I would have liked to have seen equal punishment all around but maybe im biased
What warranted getting in in Duren’s face? It wasn’t like he made a good play and blocked him and stopped him from making the shot, he gave him a hard foul then got up in his face. Honestly Duren showed composure and didn’t just straight up deck him.
I was waiting for them all to kiss each other. Bunch of softies.
I was talking to somebody yesterday about Stewart, Greymond and Dillon Brooks and the differences.
I think Greymond and Brooks play that mind game within the framework of the game. Brooks especially.
Green is out of control a little more often and gets the T’s from losing his cool.
I think Brooks keeps his cool a lot more often, but he gets plenty of T’s as well.
Stewart just wants to fight. He’s not playing mind games. He’s just out there ready to fight.
Why is Stewart always involved? lol
Stewart should have been 70 games, which would actually stop him from keeping on doing this.
Duncan Robinson with the proper response to people trying to fight you in a non-contact sport:
link to larrybrownsports.com
Thug life baby…
U of M fan here who loves Diabate- he was fouling Duren hard (dirty?) the entire game because he couldn’t stop him and then charged at Duren head down initiating the entire mess. Duren not blameless but come on… This whole incident was on Moose.
Pistons play physical. Hornets trying to grow up as a team. NBA is not about fighting. They will all learn one way or another. Stewart grew up playing in north Bronx, NY. Rough place to play ball. He needs to grow up.
Draymond is 100x the player Stewart and Brooks are. Even Grayson Allen clears Brooks and Stewart by VORP. Stewart and Brooks are just low skill guys playing 1980s style.
That said, it would be fun to see a team run out a Stewart Green Brooks Allen Morant starting 5. Might be nasty. A team should try and assemble an all-villain team or at least starting 5. We all know who would qualify for that roster lol
The weirdest thing about this is LaMelo got nothing despite leaving the bench.
Inconsistent application of the rules is a characteristic of Silver’s NBA.