The NBA has suspended Magic guard Arron Afflalo two games for his role in an altercation with Timberwolves forward Nemanja Bjelica, Shams Charania of The Vertical tweets.
On Tuesday night, Afflalo got tangled up with the 29-year-old Wolves forward and ended up launching a wild haymaker that careened off the back of Bjelica’s head and neck. Bjelica put Afflalo in a headlock before the two were eventually separated.
The suspension, which will be in place for tonight’s Magic-Cavaliers game, targets Afflalo and not Bjelica presumably because Afflalo appeared to be the one to escalate the situation, while Bjelica looked content containing Afflalo and defusing the situation.
Glad Bjelica didn’t receive any punishment. Didn’t see anything on that play (outside of some normal pushing and shoving) that warranted Afflalo throwing punches at Bjelica.
It definitely shouldn’t have escalated like that. Glad Bjelica didn’t get a suspension. He didn’t deserve one.