The NBA earlier this month suspended Miles Bridges for 30 games without pay for a domestic violence incident that led to his arrest in June 2022.
The league, though, credited the 25-year-old forward with 20 games served after he missed the whole 2022-23 season without a contract as a restricted free agent. That credit means Bridges will only serve a 10-game suspension if and when he signs a new contract and returns to the NBA.
It makes no sense why the league would call this a 30-game suspension if Bridges is only missing 10 games. It just feels performative so they can say it was the most significant punishment for a domestic violence case in league history, exceeding the 24-game suspension for Jeffrey Taylor in 2014.
But adding the 20-game credit just softens the actual discipline. Why should he get credit for 20 games served of a suspension from when he wasn’t even on an NBA roster?
During an interview with the Associated Press Sports Editors on Tuesday, NBA commissioner Adam Silver tried to explain why the league made this unusual decision. Via CBS Sports:
“The process (with Bridges) was that we worked with his representatives and the players association that he sat out the entire season,” Silver said. “And so we felt, on the balance, that because he had sat out an entire season and not been paid for an entire season, that we thought in fairness that would give him partial credit, I think, for having sat out that season.”
Bridges pled no contest to a felony domestic violence charge in November 2022. Silver added that Bridges and the league reached a “mutual agreement” to not play during the 2022-23 season.
According to the commissioner, Bridges already “lost out on millions of dollars” by missing the entire campaign. But he wasn’t officially suspended for the 2022-23 season, so this is nothing more than a thinly-veiled 10-game suspension.
That is the bare minimum punishment from the league, as noted by veteran NBA reporter David Aldridge (via The Athletic):
And, keep in mind: 10 games is the absolute minimum the league can suspend a player for what it deems “Unlawful Violence,” as enumerated in Section 7 of Article VI of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement.
The language is clear: “When a player is convicted of (including a plea of guilty, no contest, or nolo contendere to) a violent felony, he shall immediately be suspended by the NBA for a minimum of ten (10) games.”
The 20-game credit would have made more sound logic if Bridges were signed with a team last season. He would have gone on administrative leave as the league investigated the incident, and the time he missed would have counted toward his suspension.
That happened earlier this season when Grizzlies All-Star Ja Morant was suspended for eight games due to conduct detrimental to the league, which included the five games he missed while the league investigated the matter.
But that scenario was impossible for Bridges, who was not employed by an NBA team. So providing him with a 20-game credit makes the 30-game suspension just an arbitrary number if the actual time missed while actually in the league is only 10 games.
Silver and the NBA could have done much more to discipline Bridges’ misconduct. But instead, they took a route that was the least harsh measure possible.
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