Joel Embiid and Karl-Anthony Towns gave us one of the most exciting moments of the NBA season so far. The NBA gave them suspensions in return.
Embiid and Towns both are being suspended two games for their fight. The Athletic’s Shams Charania notes that Ben Simmons avoided a suspension despite tapping out Towns. The league apparently viewed Simmons as playing the role of a peacemaker.
Embiid and Towns, who have a lengthy social media history, were ejected in the third quarter of Philadelphia’s win over Minnesota on Wednesday night for scrapping in the paint. No actual punches appeared to be thrown, but the two got into a wrestling-like clinch and disrupted the game with their fight.
Embiid joked about it afterwards and was seen doing some shadowboxing. He later bragged on social media about getting the best of Towns, while Towns issued a response.
The two-game suspension seems somewhat light, and that is probably reflective of the fact that no punches were thrown, nobody was in real physical danger, and the skirmish seemed to be more of two guys wrestling with each other.
Both players will begin serving their suspension on Saturday.
