The Los Angeles Lakers will be without star forward LeBron James when they travel to New York City to take on the Knicks Tuesday evening.
The NBA announced on Monday that James has been suspended one game for his involvement in an incident during Sunday’s outing against the Detroit Pistons. James could be seen throwing an elbow in the direction of Pistons big man Isaiah Stewart, who was bloodied in the face by the incident.
A full-fledged fight almost broke out with Stewart charging at James following the scuffle. For his role in the incident, Stewart has been handed a two-game suspension.
NBA announced LeBron James, Isaiah Stewart suspensions
“Detroit Pistons center Isaiah Stewart has been suspended two games without pay for escalating an on-court altercation by repeteadly and aggressively pursuing Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James,” the NBA said in a press release. “And James has been suspended one game without pay for recklessly hitting Stewart in the face and initiating an on-court altercation.”
This represents the first time in his career that James has been suspended for actions on the court. It’s also pretty darn surprising given that he’ll miss Tuesday night’s nationally-televised TNT broadcast of the Lakers’ game against New York inside the famed Madison Square Garden. Without James in the mix, interest in that game just isn’t going to be there.
With that said, this was the right move by the NBA. It can’t simply ignore the situation that took place Sunday afternoon in Detroit because it included one of the all-time greats. Whether James meant to make contact with Stewart, it resulted in an ugly scene and a brawl nearly breaking out.