After a first sanction of 8 suspension matches this season, Ja Morant therefore received 25 matches without pay for the opening of the 2023/2024 season, following his new sequence on social networks with a firearm in one hand. .
It is therefore a heavy sanction (30% of the season’s games) which will deprive the Grizzlies playmaker of individual trophies according to the new rules put in place by the league. However, this is not a record in this area, reminds us ESPN.
The suspensions were much more severe during the very famous fight between the Pistons and the Pacers, on November 19, 2004, at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Ron Artest notably missed 86 games (73 in the regular season and 13 in the playoffs) in what remains the biggest suspension in NBA history. Stephen Jackson, he had been sentenced to 30 games, and Jermaine O’Neal to 25. The interior of Indiana will not accept this sanction and will go to court to reduce it to 15 games.
Behind Ron Artest, the second heaviest suspension in history is for Latrell Sprewell, guilty of having strangled his coach, PJ Carlesimo, on December 1, 1997. At the start, the full-back had only been ruled out for 10 matches, but the Warriors will make the decision to suspend him for the remainder of the 1997/1998 season. Finally, after an appeal from the player, the sanction will be reduced to 68 games.
25 matches for Ja Morant, 30 for Miles Bridges
On the Washington side, we find Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton. The first had taken 50 matches of suspension in January 2010 for having brought weapons into the locker room of the Wizards, following an altercation with the second, who will be dismissed 38 games for the same reasons.
Ja Morant’s sanction comes a few weeks after that of Miles Bridges, who did not play this season due to his indictment for acts of domestic violence on his ex-girlfriend, in front of their children. The NBA has therefore suspended the Hornets winger for 30 games, 20 of which have already been served since he did not walk the court in 2022/2023. He therefore has 10 games left to play.
For the most famous punch in league history, on Rudy Tomjanovich on December 9, 1977, Kermit Washington was ruled 26 games. He had intervened after a fight between his teammate Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Kevin Kunnert. Heavily injured in the face, the future coach of the Rockets then missed five months of competition!
Like Miles Bridges, Jeff Taylor, who also played for the Hornets, had been suspended for problems of assault and domestic violence on his partner, as well as property destruction in a hotel. The league had therefore suspended him for 24 matches without pay at the start of the 2014/2015 season.
Finally, we remember that Carmelo Anthony had been suspended 15 games after his punch on Mardy Collins in the big fight between the Nuggets and the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, December 16, 2006.
- 1 – Ron Artest – 86 matches
- 2 – Latrell Sprewell – 68
- 3 – Gilbert Arenas – 50
- 4 – Javaris Crittenton – 38
- 5-Stephen Jackson-30
- 5 – Miles Bridges – 30
- 7-Kermit Washington-26
- 8 – Ja Morant – 25
- 9-Jeff Taylor-24
- 10 – Jermaine O’Neal – 15
- 10 – Carmelo Anthony – 15
