The NBA has suspended three players – Raptors guards Fred VanVleet and DeAndre’ Bembry, along with Lakers guard Talen Horton-Tucker – for one game apiece, the league announced Thursday in a press release.
The three players left the bench area during an on-court altercation during the Raptors-Lakers game on Tuesday (video link). After Dennis Schröder committed a foul on a OG Anunoby shot attempt, the two players got tangled up, and Anunoby grabbed Schroder by the leg, flipping him to the ground. Players from both teams entered the fray at that point.
According to Thursday’s announcement, Anunoby received a $30K fine for initiating the incident, while Lakers big man Montrezl Harrell has been docked $20K for aggressively entering the altercation and shoving Raptors guard Gary Trent Jr.
As Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets, the one-game suspension will be costliest for VanVleet, who will forfeit $146,552 of his salary. Bembry ($11,980) and Horton-Tucker ($10,469) will also each lose one game’s worth of pay.
Horton-Tucker and Bembry will serve their suspensions Thursday, while VanVleet will serve his one-game ban once he’s healthy and ready to return from his hip ailment.
Although they’ll be missing Horton-Tucker, and Kyle Kuzma is listed as questionable with calf tightness, the Lakers will get some reinforcements for Thursday’s contest vs. Miami, as head coach Frank Vogel said that both Ben McLemore (protocols) and Andre Drummond (toe) will be available (Twitter link via Mike Trudell).
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