Houston Rockets point guard Chris Paul, Los Angeles Lakers point guard Rajon Rondo and Lakers forward Brandon Ingram are all going to miss some time.
The NBA suspended Paul two games, Rondo three games and Ingram four games Sunday following their brawl during Saturday’s showdown at Staples Center, via Howard Beck of Bleacher Report:
NBA suspensions for last night’s fracas:
Brandon Ingram, 4 games
Rajon Rondo, 3 games
Chris Paul, 2 games
Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press shared the financial implications of the suspensions:
The three suspensions will lead to $840,000 in lost salary.
Ingram loses $158,817
Rondo loses $186,207
Paul loses $491,781
So CP3 gets the lightest sentence, and hit the hardest.
It took a lot to overshadow LeBron James’ home debut in a Lakers jersey, but the melee that broke out with four minutes and 13 seconds remaining in Houston’s 124-115 victory did the trick. All three players were ejected following a fight that saw Ingram shove James Harden, Paul stick a finger in Rondo’s face, Rondo punch Paul and Ingram throw additional punches.
Chris Paul, Brandon Ingram and Rajon Rondo have been ejected after throwing blows in L.A.
James helped break up the fight by bear-hugging Paul and moving him away from the action.
On top of all that, there was the question of whether Rondo instigated the altercation with the Rockets point guard by spitting in his face.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported the NBA was investigating a video Rockets staff shot that seemed to catch Rondo spitting at his counterpart even though the Lakers point guard said he didn’t.
This is one of the pieces of video the Rockets are sending the league office as the NBA investigates last night’s fight at Staples Center and determines discipline.
Rockets forward Carmelo Anthony said Rondo did spit on Paul, per Josh Peter of USA Today: “That’s unacceptable. You don’t do that. You don’t do that, to nobody. In sports, on the streets, that’s blatant disrespectful right there.”
Wojnarowski noted NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Kiki VanDeWeghe attended the game and spearheaded the league’s investigation.
That investigation uncovered enough evidence to levy suspensions for all three primary actors in the brawl, meaning two of the Western Conference’s contenders will be without key playmakers for the upcoming stretch of the schedule.
The silver lining for both sides is it is still early in the season, but the absence of Rondo and Ingram hinders Los Angeles’ development as the players grow accustomed to playing alongside James.
Houston can still turn to Harden to initiate much of the offense in a scoring point guard role, while the Lakers have Lonzo Ball to handle the ball and James and Kyle Kuzma as forwards.
Courtesy: Bleacher Report
