On Friday, the National Basketball Association announced that Ja Morant had been suspended for 25 games. He is tied for the ninth longest player ban in league history.
Here are the harshest penalties ever handed down by the NBA:
OJ Mayo: 164 games
Mayo, the No. 3 pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, was suspended for two full seasons after his second positive drug test in 2016. He was eligible to return in 2018, but was instead selected to play overseas.
At the time of his suspension, he was playing with the Milwaukee Bucks, where he averaged 7.8 points, 2.9 assists, and 2.6 rebounds per game before a season-ending ankle injury. At his peak, he averaged 18.5 points per game for the Grizzlies in 2008-09, his rookie season. His first failed drug test came in 2011, when he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.
Ron Artest: 86 matches
After the most famous fight in all of sports, Artest was suspended for the remainder of 2003-2004 for entering the stands to fight with fans at “The Malice at the Palace”.
Artest has missed the last 73 regular season games and 13 post-season games. His ban was the largest in a group of nine players and over 140 suspended matches.
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In 2003, Artest was suspended twice, once for three games for destroying a television camera in New York, then later for four games for confronting then-Heat coach Pat Riley, flagrantly fouling and flashing two middle fingers at the Miami crowd. In 2006, after being traded to Sacramento, he was suspended in Game 2 of the Western Conference Semifinals for elbowing Manu Ginobili in the jaw, and in 2012 he was suspended again for sending another elbow to the head, this time a James Harden concussion. . This will result in a seven match suspension.
Latrell Sprewell: 68 matches
At a Warriors drill on December 1, 1997, All-Star guard Sprewell wrapped both hands around Coach PJ Carlesimo’s throat, choking him until his teammates pulled him out. About 20 minutes later, after Sprewell was thrown out of practice, Sprewell returned and punched the temporary coach in the face.
He was originally handed the first season-long suspension in league history in 1997 for the incident, but an arbitrator reduced the suspension to 68 games. Sprewell lost $24 million when the Warriors terminated his contract and he will also lose his shoe deal with Converse as a result. Sprewell later deemed the comment too harsh, By saying “60 minutes”, “I wasn’t choking on BJ, I mean BJ, he could breathe.”
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Upon his reinstatement, Sprewell was traded to the Knicks, who in 2003 fined him $250,000 for reporting to camp with a broken hand without informing the organization.
Gilbert Arenas: 50 matches
Wizards All-Star Arenas was suspended for 50 games in 2010 after brandishing a gun in the Wizards locker room over a dispute with teammate Javaris Crittenton over gambling debts. Besides violating the NBA’s policy of bringing a handgun into league and team facilities, Arenas was also charged with carrying a handgun without a license in the District of Columbia, and pleaded guilty.
In the three seasons leading up to the suspension, Arenas averaged 27.7 points per game and made three All-Star teams. He would never make another All-Star team, and only started 72 games the rest of his career.
Javares Crettenton: 38 matches
Another wizard involved in the locker room gun incident, Crittenton was also suspended for the rest of the 2009-10 season. The guard, who has not appeared in a game all season, has had a shorter suspension since Arenas was suspended indefinitely three weeks prior to the incident.
Crittenton would never appear in another NBA game. In 2011, he was charged with the murder of a 22-year-old mother of four. In 2013, he pleaded guilty to first degree murder and was sentenced to 23 years in prison, which was reduced to 10 years. Released on April 23, 2023.
Stephen Jackson: 30 matches
The second biggest comment to come out of “The Malice at the Palace,” Jackson followed Artiste into the stands and clashed with fans. Years later, Jackson narrated to Grantland Conversation with Artiste in the locker room after a fight.
“Jack, do you think we’re going to get in trouble?” Artist asked Jackson and Jackson replied “Are you serious bro? Trouble? Ron, we’ll be lucky if we still have a great job!”
Jackson would keep his job and play nine more seasons, averaging 20.7 points per game with the Warriors in 2008-09. He served one other notable suspension, missing seven games in 2007 after an incident at a nightclub where he did not compete on a battery charge after firing several shots.
Miles Bridges: 30 matches
Bridges was suspended 30 games by the NBA in April 2023 as a result of a domestic violence incident involving the mother of his children in 2022. Bridges, a restricted free agent, was not signed by the Hornets or any team in 2022-23 and did not play. A twenty-game ban counts from 2022-23, which means Bridges has 10 matches left on suspension if he’s signed and available to play.
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Kermit Washington: 26 games
In a brawl between the Washington Lakers and the Milwaukee Bucks in 1977, Washington struck Bucks forward Rudy Tomjanovic, leaving him with a fractured skull, fractured jaw, fractured nose, and leaking spinal fluid—injuries that were life-threatening. Washington was fined $10,000 and suspended for 60 days, up to 26 games, which at the time was the largest suspension in NBA history for an on-court incident.
Bench brawls were common in the early 1970s, but Washington’s punch changed the way penalties are handed out for such events. David Stern, the NBA’s chief advisor at the time, said the incident made officials realize that “you can’t allow guys of this size and strength to go around throwing punches at each other”.
Washington was traded to the Celtics amidst his suspension and would do five more seasons, making the All-Star team in 1980 with Portland after being traded for Bill Walton. Tomjanovic, who survived injuries and eventually became an All-Star coach and tournament winner, said he made peace with Washington after the strike.
In 2018, Washington was sentenced to six years in federal prison for charity fraud after he was charged with misappropriating nearly $5 million intended for children in Africa. Released in 2022.
Other notable players and incidents:
- Jermaine O’Neal: O’Neal landed one of the most memorable punches in The Malice at the Palace, hitting a running fan on the floor. He was initially given a 25-match ban by Stern, which was later reduced to 15 matches.
- Carmelo Anthony: A 2006 brawl between the Nuggets and Knicks ended with Anthony hitting Mardi Collins, resulting in a 15-game suspension for the Nuggets star. Seven players were suspended for the brawl.
- Dennis Rodman (1997): While playing for the Bulls, Rodman was suspended 11 games and fined $25,000 in 1997 for kicking a photographer in the groin.
- Dennis Rodman (1996): The previous season, Rodman was suspended six games for striking referee Ted Bernhardt after he was ejected from a game in New Jersey in March. Rodman has been suspended by either the league or his team more than ten times in his career.
- Nick Van Exel: Van Exel was given a seven-match ban in 1996 for shoving referee Ron Garretson onto the scorer’s table after Garretson had sent him off for arguing a call.
- Rashid Wallace: The man with the most technical fouls in NBA history, Wallace was suspended once in his career, when he confronted and threatened referee Tim Donaghy in the parking lot after he fouled Donaghy earlier during a 2003 game.
- Ben Wallace: Wallace’s push from Artiste is what sparked “hatred in the mansion”. Wallace was suspended for six games for his role
- DJ Mbenga: Mbenga was suspended six games during the 2006 Western Conference Finals for entering the stands to defend coach Avery Johnson’s wife, who was harassed by fans. Earlier in the season, Knicks forward Antonio Davis was suspended five games for entering the stands to defend his wife.
A number of players have been banned and reinstated by the league due to drug use and other reasons. These players include Trek Evans, Chris Anderson, Stanley Roberts, Louis Lloyd, Michael Ray Richardson and Connie Hawkins.
Among the players to be permanently banned are John Drew, Eddie Johnson, Chris Washburn, Roy Tarpley and Richard Dumas.
Non-players:
- Bob Sarver: The former Suns owner has been suspended for the entire 2022-23 season, which totaled 93 games, after completing the league’s investigation into allegations he fostered a toxic and hostile work environment.
- Mark Stephens: A minority owner of the Warriors, Stevens was involved in an altercation with Raptors guard Kyle Lowry during the 2019 Finals, for which Stevens was fined $500,000 and suspended for the entire 2019-20 season, which was cut short by COVID-19 and amounted to 65 games.
- Donald Sterling: Sterling was permanently banned by the NBA in 2014 after leaked audio recordings revealed racist remarks he made to his girlfriend, his mistress. Along with the ban, commissioner Adam Silver fined him $2.5 million and began proceedings to force Sterling out of the league.
Notable suspensions such as the suspension of Ime Udoka in 2022-23 or Kyrie Irving in 2022 are not included because they were issued by the team rather than the league version.
(Photo: Allen Einstein/NBAE via Getty Images)