NBA Lightly Suspends Five Players for Timberwolves-Pistons Brawl

The NBA issued suspensions from Sunday’s Pistons–Timberwolves fight, and the punishments were surprisingly light. 

Pistons center Isaiah Stewart received the heaviest punishment with a two game suspension, while his teammates Ron Holland and Marcus Sasser got suspended for one game. Timberwolves center Naz Reid and guard Donte DiVincenzo each got a one game suspension.

The players will not be paid from the games they were suspended from. The game featured 12 technical fouls, which was the most in an NBA game in 20 years, according to OptaSTATS.

The incident occurred during the second quarter of Sunday’s game after Reid took exception to a hard foul from Holland while driving for a layup. Reid and Holland briefly exchanged words before DiVencenzo came between the two of them and grabbed Holland’s jersey. When Holland brushed DiVencenzo off of him, tensions escalated. Both players grabbed each other in a dust-up that spilled into the courtside seats along the baseline, where multiple photographers were stationed. 

Stewart quickly got to the center of the brawl and went after Reid, who appeared to be on the floor in the middle of the skirmish. Both teams have already clinched a playoff spot with the Pistons currently in fifth place in the Eastern Conference and the Timberwolves in seventh place in the Western Conference. The Timberwolves are a half game behind the sixth-place Warriors to get out of the Play-In Tournament. 

The mild punishment is a slight surprise given the fight spilled into seats fans were in and involved the ejection of multiple coaches. Both Pistons coach JB Bickerstaff and Timberwolves assistant Pablo Prigioni were ejected and seen shouting at each other as players were being separated. Neither coach was suspended.  

“Obviously things went too far,” Bickerstaff said after Sunday’s game. “But what you see is guys looking out for one another, guys trying to protect one another, guys trying to have each other’s backs…. Those are non-negotiables in our locker room.”

The brawl took place a few yards from Timberwolves minority owner Alex Rodriguez, who won an arbitration ruling over longtime majority owner Glen Taylor in February for control of the team. Taylor is currently weighing his options. Rodriguez was seen calling for assistance for a fan who was a bystander in my brawl after it was broken up.