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Update — James was suspended one game for his part in the fight on Sunday with Isaiah Stewart, who received a two-game ban. LeBron won’t play in Tuesday’s game vs. the Knicks. He was already listed as questionable, so there was a chance he wasn’t even going to play anyway.
Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James was ejected from Sunday’s contest against the Detroit Pistons after committing a Flagrant 2 foul on Isaiah Stewart on a box-out following a free-throw shot. This was the second ejection of James’ career, and there will certainly be some reaction from the league office.
James threw an elbow during the box-out attempt, which led to Stewart having a cut. The incident caused a significant scuffle between the two teams, with Stewart attempting to charge at James in the aftermath of the foul. The question now is what the penalties will be for everyone involved.
Track record matters, and James has a clean one when it comes to incidents like this. He didn’t go on a complete rampage swinging left and right. This was an elbow to the face and while it was more than incidental, it wasn’t truly malicious like other Flagrant 2 fouls. That means a suspension is unlikely for James.
Stewart will be heavily reprimanded for attempting to escalate the situation, and the NBA will assess fines to all players involved after reviewing video of the incident. Since James did not receive a technical foul in this instance, the technical foul threshold will not come into play. However, James does get two penalty points for the flagrant foul. If he gets to five penalty points, he will automatically be suspended. Given this was only his second career ejection, it seems unlikely James will hit that five-point threshold this season.