Overview
- The NBA announced Thursday that Marcus Smart was suspended three games without pay after review found his right-hand punch made contact with Golden State center Charles Bassey’s face.
- Officials assessed a Flagrant-2 and ejected Smart with 21 seconds left in the third quarter of the Rockets’ 115-108 win following a heated rebound exchange that led to the swing.
- Rockets coach Ime Udoka relayed Smart’s account that the players were tangled and Smart’s previously injured elbow was bent, while Bassey called the action “fake toughness” and denied retaliating.
- Smart will miss Houston’s games versus the Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards and Miami Heat, forcing short-term rotation changes for the 9–3 Rockets on the next three stops.
- The suspension follows Smart’s documented history of fines and past discipline and signals the league’s insistence on removing players who throw punches from play and pay.