On Wednesday night, the NBA fined LaMelo Ball for his “unnecessary and reckless contact” with Bam Adebayo during Charlotte’s victory over Miami in their play-in game Tuesday. It made for a deflating end to what had become a whole media saga over Ball’s intentions, or lack thereof, and whether or not the league should suspend him for the next game to make up for the ejection he avoided because the referees missed the incident. Ultimately, the NBA decided not to suspend Ball, hitting him instead with a $35,000 fine for the trip, an additional $25,000 for cursing during his postgame interview, and a retroactive flagrant 2 foul. He is therefore available to play in Friday’s game against the Orlando Magic for the No. 8 seed and the right to get stomped by Detroit.
Was this the right decision? As always, “… eh.” Ball’s swipe of Adebayo’s leg looked a lot worse in slow motion than in real time, where it just seemed like a typically goofy player prone to losing control of his body, which, if you’ve ever watched LaMelo Ball play basketball, you know that’s exactly what he is. Should the refs have stopped the game to take a further look at the trip? Probably, but 1) the game was moving a hundred miles a minute, so the refs missed their window for it, and 2) the refs tend to lean toward not affecting the outcome of games the later we get into a season, which is the right instinct.
The situation is all the trickier because of what happened after. Adebayo, the Heat’s best player, was injured on the play, which happened at the start of the second quarter, and did not return to the game. The Hornets went on to win in overtime by a single point, with Ball himself scoring the game-winner. Because of all that, it’s easy to point back to Ball’s trip as the deciding moment of the game. And because of that, it’s understandable why some would argue that Ball should’ve been suspended for the Magic game as some sort of cosmic evening-things-out for the missed flagrant 2 call. It doesn’t help that Ball’s explanation of the situation was lackluster. “I apologize on that one, I got hit in the head and didn’t really know where I was. But I’m going to check on him, see if he’s OK and everything,” he said, implying he might’ve sustained a concussion on the play and then saying he doesn’t know what a concussion feels like. But sports is never even, and even Heat coach Erik Spoelstra himself doesn’t think it makes much sense to punish Ball in a subsequent game for what was the referees’ own mistake for not calling the foul live. The kind of hindsight refereeing of it all just seems a bit thorny.
With that said, Ball is absolutely lucky to escape with just a fine here. He’s developed enough of a reputation for clown behavior that he probably is not deserving of anyone’s benefit of the doubt, regardless of his intentions. (Doubly so when it comes to Adebayo, who, as internet sleuths have discovered, had been the target of another moment of Ball recklessness a couple years ago.) The NBA not suspending Ball probably tells you something about the importance the league puts on making these play-in games successful. I mean, Charlotte is playing a hapless Orlando team. The league needs all the star power it can get.
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