New York, NY (My Sportsbook) -
Los Angeles Lakers forward Rick Fox was suspended for six games and Sacramento guard Doug Christie will be benched for two games as a result of their altercation during Friday night's preseason finale at Staples Center, NBA senior vice president of
basketball operations Stu Jackson announced Monday.
The fight added fuel to an already heated Lakers-Kings rivalry, as Fox and Christie exchanged punches on the court before the bout later continued in the runway near the locker room. Fox will lose $289,349 in salary, while Christie will have to give up $138,889. Fox's suspension is higher because he started the violence on the court, and then ran through the hallways of Staples Center to confront Christie at the other side of the arena.
Fox elbowed Christie for an offensive foul with 9:53 left in the opening quarter of the final preseason game for both teams. Christie fell to the floor and then Fox pushed his open hand to Christie's face. The Kings' guard responded by throwing a punch to Fox's chin.
Both players were ejected, but in the tunnel there was another fracas. Christie tackled Fox through a curtain. Shaquille O'Neal, in street clothes, had words for Kings center Vlade Divac and the two pushed for position.
All Sacramento players came off the court toward the tunnel, but eventually came back for the game. However, no other fines were handed out.
"While players from both teams left their bench areas during the altercation, we are not imposing suspensions on those players," Jackson said. "Our rule regarding an automatic suspension for players leaving the bench was not intended to apply in a highly unusual situation like this one, where an altercation occurs in an access tunnel or hallway. In this circumstance, our judgment was that the players who left the bench were attempting to break up the fight and did not escalate the altercation. Therefore, we have issued no penalties for those players."
The Lakers defeated the Kings in a hard-fought seven-game series in the Western Conference finals last season on the way to their third straight NBA title.
