On Sunday, the NBA handed down their punishments for the players involved in the fight between the Wizards and Warriors that took place on Friday. Markieff Morris and Carrick Felix were suspended one game for leaving the bench, and fines were given out to Kelly Oubre Jr, Bradley Beal, and Draymond Green.
Here is video of the incident:
Draymond Green and Bradley Beal fight to the ground in the 2nd quarter pic.twitter.com/AEucXIeS8I
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) October 28, 2017
Here is a breakdown of the players sanctioned by the NBA:
Player | Game(s) Suspended | Fined | Reason | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Draymond Green
GS F
| 0 | $ 25,000 | Confronting Beal, failing to disengage | |
Bradley Beal
WAS G
| 0 | $ 50,000 | Initiating the incident | |
Kelly Oubre
WAS F
| 0 | $ 15,000 | Aggressively entering the altercation | |
Markieff Morris
WAS F
| 1 | Suspended without pay | Leaving the bench | |
Carrick Felix
WAS G
| 1 | Suspended without pay | Leaving the bench | |
Morris and Felix being suspended by the NBA isn't particularly surprising, but it's how they responded to everybody else that is befuddling about the NBA's decision making process. The league has set a rule that players who come off the bench during an altercation are suspended. That's been the case for quite some time now, but the reason for the rule is to avoid these players escalating fights.
However, in the fight between the Warriors and Wizards, all the players who did actual fighting were not suspended in any way. Beal and Green received fines for instigating/beginning the incident. In the case of Oubre there is clear evidence of him making a swinging motion that hit his own teammate, John Wall, in the back of the head. He also made contact with Klay Thompson's face.
Take a closer look as it appears Kelly Oubre Jr. lands a punch to Klay's face during the scrum. pic.twitter.com/j7dg0srh3o
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) October 28, 2017
If the NBA has decided that they don't want to punish players for these incidents then that's fine. This can set the precedent for these sort of decisions, but that also makes the bench rule pointless. The NBA is punishing players who did less than those who did more and that doesn't make sense.