The NBA on Tuesday suspended five players for their roles in an altercation in a game between the Detroit Pistons and Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday.
Detroit’s Isaiah Stewart received a two-game suspension without pay, and Detroit’s Ron Holland II and Marcus Sasser and Minnesota’s Donte DiVincenzo and Naz Reid were each suspended one game without pay. The incident happened with 8:36 left in the second quarter of Minnesota’s 123-104 victory.
Stewart received two games ‘for escalating an on-court altercation’ and ‘in part on his repeated history of unsportsmanlike acts.’
Holland II and Reid exchanged words after Holland fouled Reid. Minnesota’s DiVincenzo tussled with Holland as the altercation escalated along the baseline and into the courtside seats and involved more players. Five players (Detroit’s Holland, Isaiah Stewart and Marcus Sasser and Minnesota’s Reid and DiVincenzo) and two coaches (Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff and Timberwolves assistant coach Pablo Prigioni) were ejected.
Reid and DiVincenzo will serve their suspensions Tuesday when the Timberwolves play the Denver Nuggets. Stewart will start his two-game suspension Wednesday when the Pistons play the Oklahoma City Thunder. Holland II and Sasser will also serve suspensions Wednesday against the Thunder.
The NBA suspended Stewart one game without pay earlier this season for accruing his sixth flagrant foul point, three games last season for punching and shoving an opponent and two games in 2021 for repeatedly and aggressively pursuing an opponent during an on-court altercation.
The coaches were ejected for jawing at each other and were not directly related to the altercation or escalating the altercation.
This story has been updated to include new details.