One would think that the player who did the fouling and injuring would be the one who gets the stiffer suspension, but that apparently doesn’t apply when one of the players involved is LeBron James.
On Sunday night, LeBron and the Lakers defeated the Detroit Pistons 121-116. But before the final buzzer sounded, LeBron committed a flagrant foul against Detroit’s Isaiah Stewart as the Pistons shot free throws. The cheap shot from James left Stewart bloodied and understandably enraged.
The Flagrant 2 from James earned him only his second suspension in his nearly 20-year career.
Another angle shows just how atrocious James’ cheap shot truly was. Stewart clearly had leverage on him and was getting pushed out of the way.
On Monday, it was announced that James would be suspended one game for the incident, and Stewart would receive a two-game suspension.
As the AP reports:
The NBA announced the suspensions Monday, and both will affect games on Tuesday. James will not play when the Lakers visit Madison Square Garden to play the New York Knicks. Stewart will miss the Pistons’ home game against Miami on Tuesday and their game Wednesday at Milwaukee.
James will forfeit about $284,000 in salary, while Stewart will lose about $45,000. It is the first suspension in the 19-year career of James, who has won four NBA titles with three teams.
…
Stewart, the NBA said, was disciplined for ‘escalating an on-court altercation by repeatedly and aggressively pursuing … James in an unsportsmanlike manner.’ James merited the suspension ‘for recklessly hitting Stewart in the face and initiating an on-court altercation,’ the NBA said.
Yes, Stewart was upset. However, he had an excellent reason to be after getting raked across the face for the crime of simply getting in a better position than LeBron James to collect the rebound. Still, it was LeBron who caused the injury and initiated the foul. Therefore, there’s no way he should be suspended for fewer games than Stewart. If the association wants to give Stewart two games for excessive charging and “escalating” the situation, fine. But James should get two games as well.