The Houston Rockets handed one-game suspensions to Kevin Porter Jr. and Christian Wood for disciplinary reasons, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Tim MacMahon reported Monday.
Reporting with @ESPN_MacMahon: The Houston Rockets are suspending Kevin Porter Jr., and Christian Wood for tonight’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers, disciplining both for poor behavior surrounding Saturday’s loss to Denver.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 3, 2022
Neither player was on the court for the second half of Saturday's loss to the Denver Nuggets after each had a halftime altercation with assistant coach John Lucas.
Wood was angry he was benched to start the game as punishment for missing the team's daily COVID-19 testing. After giving an apathetic effort when called upon to play, head coach Stephen Silas decided to not play Wood at all in the second half.
Stephen Silas on Christian Wood:
— Salman Ali (@SalmanAliNBA) January 2, 2022
“We’re basically going to keep that internal. But he broke a team rule, I didn’t start him, and decided not to play him in the second half.”
Porter wasn't even in the building for the second half of Saturday's game, MacMahon reported at the time. The guard, who has dealt well-known behavior issues in his career, exploded on the bench during the first half after Lucas had some criticism for him. The disagreement carried over into a quarrel at halftime that resulted in Porter leaving the arena altogether.
The Cleveland Cavaliers traded Porter to the Rockets last January after he had an angry outburst at team officials for moving his locker to an auxiliary area to make room for Taurean Prince.
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