NBA says Jimmy Butler ‘instigated’ and ‘started’ the altercation between Miami Heat and New Orleans Pelicans.
Butler and four other players were suspended for their participation in the brawl that occurred in the fourth quarter on Friday. Butler and Pelicans forward Naji Marshall received one-game penalties.
Miami’s Thomas Bryant and New Orleans’ Jose Alvarado received three-game penalties for leaving their respective benches and fighting. Nikola Jovic of the Heat received a one-game ban for leaving the bench area.
Jimmy Butler’s suspension may have surprised some, but the league obviously determined that the Miami Heat player was somewhat responsible for the altercation with the New Orleans Pelicans.
Jimmy Butler is among five players punished during the Heat-Pelicans incident.
Miami’s Jimmy Butler and New Orleans’ Naji Marshall have been suspended for one game apiece for instigating an on-court altercation, the NBA announced Sunday.
Miami’s Thomas Bryant and New Orleans’ Jose Alvarado each received three-game penalties for fighting and abandoning the bench area. The NBA also suspended Miami’s Nikola Jovic for one game for leaving the bench and becoming involved in the fight.
Butler, who did not believe he should have been disqualified, would lose roughly $260,000 in basic salary due to his suspension. The remaining sanctions will cost the four other players around $115,000 altogether.
“I placed my hand around his neck. “He put his hand around my neck,” Butler stated after the game of his encounter with Marshall. “And it just took off the way it did.”
It began with Miami’s Kevin Love fouling New Orleans’ Zion Williamson under the Pelicans’ basket. According to the league, Butler and Marshall “engaged in a physical altercation” following the foul, followed by a fight between Alvarado and Bryant.
Alvarado, Bryant, Butler, and Marshall were given technical fouls and expelled from the game, which the Heat won 106-95.
