LeBron James, Isaiah Stewart draw suspensions for bloody scuffle

LeBron James and Isaiah Stewart were punished by the NBA in the wake of their scuffle that turned bloody on Sunday. 

Monday afternoon, the NBA announced suspensions for James and Stewart, with the Lakers superstar receiving one game and the Pistons forward receiving two.

The incident occured in LeBron's second game back after an extended absence due to an abdominal injury. He and Stewart were both ejected after nearly coming to blows.

On the play in question, James and Stewart got tangled up as they tried to box each other out during a Pistons free-throw attempt in the third quarter. But Stewart lost the battle after James sent him to the ground with an elbow to his eye. The blow drew blood, and Stewart was irate following what he believed to be a dirty play.

James was adamant about it being an accident as the benches cleared, but Stewart still wanted to get a piece of him. He made a few attempts to get within striking distance of The King, but was held back by a slew of teammates and coaches. 

Both players were ejected — Stewart for his role in the scrum, James for the foul, which referees labeled a flagrant 2 foul. It's just the second time that James has been ejected in his 19-year career. His first ejection happened in 2017 — 15 years into his NBA career — during his second stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers. 

After the game, Davis said that LeBron attempted to apologize to Stewart immediately after the foul, which led to stitches for Stewart.

"Everyone in the league knows LeBron is not a dirty guy," Davis said.

After news of the suspensions came out late Monday, whether or not the punishments were adequate — or deserved — was a prevalent discussion Tuesday.

Shannon Sharpe of "Undisputed" explained why he wasn't on board with the ruling from the NBA.

"I still don't believe that he should be suspended," Sharpe said. "I disagree with the rulings, Skip. I don't believe he intentionally hit him in the face. ... I believe had Isaiah Stewart not reacted the way he did, I don't believe either player would have been suspended."

However, his cohost, Skip Bayless, applauded the NBA for making the tough decision to suspend "The King."

"I would like to say, first of all, hooray for the NBA," Bayless said Tuesday. "I dared them to go ahead and suspend 'The King' ahead of his only one and only visit to the Mecca of basketball — Madison Square Garden. ... A lot of mad fans, because this was big of the NBA to do."

With the Lakers visiting the New York Knicks in a primetime matchup at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, a sidelined James dampens the appeal of that contest. 

With that in mind, Nick Wright came up with an interesting suggestion on Tuesday's episode of "First Things First."

Wright said he believes the NBA should have the option to make a superstar serve a short suspension at home, rather than on the road, so that out-of-market fans can capitalize on the rare opportunities to see the game's biggest players.

"The NBA should have the discretion that if a player gets suspended — not 10, 20 games [but] for a one-off or a one- or two-game stint — to make that player serve his suspension at the next home game," Wright suggested. "It sucks for Knicks fans they don't get to see LeBron this year. ... For Indiana I'd feel the same way. People who have bought tickets for months to see LeBron."

It's too late for James to benefit from Wright's idea in this instance, but maybe down the road? Then again, it could be a moot point in James' case, considering this marked the first suspension of his 19-yard career.

Given the rarity of James running afoul of the NBA's rules, there was plenty of commentary on Twitter following the wild incident Sunday.