Second-year Rockets guard Jalen Green and third-year forward Jae’Sean Tate briefly left Houston’s bench during Friday’s altercation in Sacramento, which led to both being suspended for a game.
The NBA league office made the announcement early Sunday, which means that the Rockets will be short-handed later in the day when they visit the Los Angeles Clippers at Crypto.com Arena.
While neither Green nor Tate was deemed an instigator, the league’s policy automatically suspends any player who leaves the bench in an altercation. The intent is to reduce the odds of a greater conflict.
The scuffle occurred in Friday’s fourth quarter, and it primarily involved Houston’s Garrison Mathews and Sacramento’s Malik Monk. Rockets forward Tari Eason and Kings big man Chimezie Metu were also ejected, with officials ruling that Eason was an instigator.
Eason, however, was playing in the game at the time, which means he wasn’t subject to the automatic suspension rule. Green and Tate weren’t in the game, which made them subject to the policy.
Eason did receive a $30,000 fine from the NBA for escalating the altercation and making inadvertent contact with a game official as part of the activity in Sacramento. Mathews was fined $35,000 for initiating the altercation and taunting Monk, while Monk was fined $25,000 for continuing the altercation and taunting Mathews.
The following was released by the NBA. pic.twitter.com/86qNlKCn76
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) January 15, 2023
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