Monday 22 October 2018 07:00, UK
Brandon Ingram, Rajon Rondo and Chris Paul have all been suspended by the NBA after Saturday's brawl between the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets.
Paul missed Sunday night's clash with the Los Angeles Clippers, and will sit for one more game, while Rondo was banned for three games and Ingram hit hardest with a four-game suspension.
The suspensions also hit the players in the wallet - Paul was fined $491,782 (£375,000) as the highest-paid of the trio, while Rondo will be docked a total of $186,207 (£142,000) and Ingram's total fine is $158,816 (£121,000).
Ingram's push on James Harden had started the brawl, which came with just over four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter of Saturday night's game.
Rondo and Paul then squared up, with the latter appearing to poke Rondo in the eyes.
Rockets team-mates later claimed that Rondo had spat at Paul, which was referenced in the statement from NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Kiki Vandeweghe.
The statement read: "[Ingram] has been suspended for aggressively returning to and escalating the altercation and throwing a punch in the direction of Paul, confronting a game official in a hostile manner, and instigating the overall incident by shoving Rockets guard James Harden.
"Rondo has been suspended for instigating a physical altercation with, and spitting and throwing multiple punches at, Paul.
"Paul has been suspended for poking at and making contact with the face of Rondo, and throwing multiple punches at him."
The brawl marred LeBron James' home debut for the Lakers, which ended in a 124-115 defeat.
Houston failed to follow up that victory, in the absence of Paul, on Sunday night when they fell to a 115-112 defeat against the Clippers.
Harden had 31 points for the Rockets, while Eric Gordon stepped into the starting line-up to replace Paul and hit five three-pointers in a 21-point night.
But their fourth-quarter rally from nine points down fell short as the Clippers, led by 23 points from Tobias Harris and some strong performances off the bench, held on to improve to 2-1 on the fledgling season.
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