Jeff Taylor, the Charlotte Hornets small forward suspended 24 games by NBA commissioner Adam Silver, won’t appeal.
Yahoo Sports reports that the Swedish-American player will accept the remaining 13 games of his suspension after sitting for the last 11. The NBA players’ union strongly denounced the disciplinary measure on Wednesday on some of the same grounds that the NFL players’ union denounced Roger Goodell’s suspension of Adrian Peterson, charging that the commissioner broke rules to harshly punish a rule breaker.
“The 24-game suspension is one of the longest in the history of the league,” new union honcho Michele Roberts pointed out. “We have a scheme of discipline that was the result of collective bargaining between the parties that has been applied consistently over the years. While we appreciate the sensitivity of this societal issue, the Commissioner is not entitled to rewrite the rules or otherwise ignore precedent in disciplinary matters. While ultimately this is Jeff’s decision, we stand ready to file an immediate appeal on his behalf.”
East Lansing, Michigan, police arrested Taylor on September 24 early in the morning and then later in the evening. In the latter incident, Taylor allegedly destroyed property; in the former; he allegedly shoved a woman and slapped her arm. The one-man crime wave ultimately pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge.
Taylor, sidelined by an injury most of last year, averages 6.6 points and 2 rebounds per game more than two seasons into his NBA career.