The NBA has suspended Washington Wizards guard Carrick Felix and forward Markieff Morris for one game for leaving the bench during an altercation between Bradley Beal and Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green on Friday.
The suspensions will be without pay and will be served in the next game each player is able to play.
The incident started when Beal drove toward the basket and had his shot blocked by Green with 23 seconds left in the first half of the Warriors' 120-117 victory. The Wizards maintained possession, but as the two jostled for position in the paint, Beal smacked Green in the face from behind. Green then grabbed Beal, and the two got locked up. The pair backpedaled toward fans in the front row under the Wizards' basket and eventually fell.
Members of both teams, as well as officials, coaches and even a fan, tried to break it up. Morris, recovering from hernia surgery, was inactive and in street clothes, while Felix was on the bench.
Beal and Green were ejected. Beal was fined $50,000 for initiating the incident, and Green was fined $25,000.
Wizards forward Kelly Oubre Jr. was also fined $15,000 for aggressively entering the altercation. Oubre told The Undefeated's Marc J. Spears on Friday that he ran into the skirmish but didn't throw punches and was trying to break things up.
Green, speaking Sunday night after the Warriors' 115-107 home loss to the Pistons, doesn't understand why he was disciplined and talked about it at length.
"It came as no surprise to me. I was naive enough to think that the first tech would get rescinded since [all] I said was, 'It wasn't my shoulder.' But silly me to think that they were going to take a tech back from me," Green said. "I was also naive enough to think that they'd say, you know, I got slapped or whatever, I got in the face or grabbed. I don't know what else you're supposed to do at that point. I didn't even grab him and slap him. I grabbed him and held my ground. They slammed me on top of him. I don't know what else to do at that point. They said I -- what'd they say, I 'continued to' or I 'failed to disengage.' How do you disengage at that point? That sound like 'We got him' to me. I ain't ever heard that in my life. Out in the world, if somebody hits you, you're allowed to defend yourself. It's called self-defense. If somebody shoots you, you're allowed to shoot back. Self-defense.
"I got hit and didn't even hit back and got fined. Then for him to get fined only $50,000 dollars, and I get fined $25,000. Oubre come in throwing punches, and he get fined less than me. That just don't add up to me. I know they ain't the biggest fan of me, that's fine, but don't be so obvious that you're not the biggest fan of me. That's just too obvious.
"But at the end of the day, they're going to make out who they want to make out to be the bad guy. That's cool. But be fair across the board. You got presidents of teams giving middle fingers on national TV, and nothing's said. You don't want to shine the light on somebody else and make out someone else to be the bad guy. You know, just keep being me. Guess I'm not supposed to be me. Tried that, that s--- don't work either. So it is what it is. I wish I had a better answer. But I don't got a better answer. Failing to disengage? I don't know what that means. Get punched, grabbed and slammed is maybe what that means. But, yeah, I don't know. Like I said, it's no surprise. I'm the same guy who got another man groin on my shoulder, and I was wrong for reacting. Maybe it's just me. I can't -- I would say defend myself, but I didn't really defend myself. I'd say I probably can't protect myself. And that's that."
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said he was also confused by the amount of Green's fine.
"I don't know how you get fined $25,000 for being attacked," he said. "So I don't know. It seemed like maybe there's some prior reputation to it.
"There's some curious stuff in there. It looked to me like Oubre came out there and went into the crowd and caused a lot more. Draymond, he was the one who was attacked in the first place. It seemed like those fines could have been reversed."
ESPN's Chris Haynes contributed to this report.