Heat-Pelicans Fight Suspensions Announced

Jimmy Butler, Naji Marshall, and Nikola Jovic will be suspended for a game while Jose Alvarado and Thomas Bryant will miss three games for their respective roles in the brawl that broke out at Heat-Pelicans on Friday night. Alvarado and Bryant's punishments were deemed more severe due to the pair reigniting tensions between the teams after the original scuffle had died down.

However, fans will note that Draymond Green still received a larger suspension for placing Rudy Gobert in a chokehold earlier in the season. Green missed five games for that incident. Fans will likely soon voice their distaste for the league's double standard as news of the suspensions begins to spread.

Heat-Pelicans Fight: What Happened

Butler was one of four players ejected after a wild brawl broke out between Heat and Pelicans players on Friday night. A hard foul on Zion Williamson caused tensions to boil over, with Butler and Marshall seen grabbing each other by the neck. Bryant and Alvarado were also ejected alongside Butler and Marshall. However, Butler argued that he didn't think his actions warranted a suspension. Furthermore, he accused Williamson of flopping, causing the whole debacle to begin with. Meanwhile, Williamson appeared to place the blame on Butler. "I wasn't tripping about K-Love because he actually protected me on my fall. All of a sudden I see Butler kind of lunging toward Naji. So I'm trying to get there like, 'Yo, relax, like what's going on?'" Williamson said.

Additionally, tensions surrounding the game had been high even before the teams took the court. Earlier in the day, The Pelicans took shots at Stephen A. Smith after the ESPN personality went on yet another rant about team star Zion Williamson. The team's official X account posted a graphic showing Smith's dismal college stats of 1.5 points and 1 assist a game. Appearing on Get Up! earlier in the day, Smith had once again gone after Williamson's weight. "Zion Williamson, it's not about his game. It's about how many burgers he's eating," Smith said in part.

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