In the aftermath of the fight that broke out in Monday’s game between the Detroit Pistons and the Charlotte Hornets, all four players who were ejected will also be suspended, the NBA announced Wednesday.
Detroit’s Isaiah Stewart will carry the heftiest penalty as he was handed a seven-game suspension while teammate Jalen Duren will only be suspended two games.
Charlotte’s Moussa Diabate and Miles Bridges were each given a four-game suspension.
Stewart’s penalty comes due to “leaving the bench area, aggressively entering an on-court altercation, and fighting” according to an NBA release. His “repeated history of unsportsmanlike acts” played a role in getting the harshest suspension of the group.
The NBA concluded that Duren initiated the altercation and fought, but Diabate and Bridges were still given larger suspensions for fighting and escalating the situation.
The incident first started when Diabate fouled Duren with just over seven minutes to go in the third quarter of Monday’s game at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Duren and Diabate went face-to-face, jawing at each other before Duren pushed Diabate in the face. The former Michigan forward then attempted to punch Duren multiple times, chasing after him as the Pistons center moved away.
Bridges would approach Duren at mid-court and tried to punch him, as well. That’s when Stewart joined the fray, coming off the bench and rushing to initiate conflict with Bridges.
Following the game, coach J.B. Bickerstaff defended Stewart’s actions as he saw the Hornets players as the initiators of the events, saying Stewart acted on “human instincts” to protect his teammate and Duren was just trying to defend himself.
Ahead of the suspensions coming down, president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon said in an interview with 97.1 The Ticket that the team knew where Stewart’s heart was with his actions, but they’re having conversations to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“The professional side of it is if you do that you’re going to miss games and you’re going to hurt the team,” Langdon said. “He also cares a ton about the team so this is going to hurt him in that way because he’s not going to be able to help his teammates here in a while.”
The Pistons players will begin serving their suspensions with Wednesday night’s game against the Toronto Raptors. Duren will also miss Detroit’s first game back from the All-Star break against the New York Knicks on Feb. 19 at Madison Square Garden.
According to a report from NBA insider Chris Haynes, the suspension won’t impact Duren’s ability to take part in the All-Star Game this weekend.
In addition to the Raptors and Knicks games, Stewart will miss key games against the Chicago Bulls, San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando Magic.
He will be able to return on March 3 for a road game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
This story will be updated.