LeBron On Being Suspended For Striking Player In Face: It's ‘Bulls**t’

[Ubiquitous]

The Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James claimed that the NBA’s decision to
suspend him for striking the Detroit Pistons’ Isaiah Stewart in the face was
“bulls**t.”

“Rob [Pelinka] called me. I missed his call,” James told ESPN, referring to
the Lakers’ vice president of basketball operations and general manager. “As
soon as when I checked my phone and it was a missed call, I was like, ‘I know
I’m suspended.’”

“I mean, it’s some bulls***,” James said. “But whatever.”

James was asked last night following his team’s victory against the Indiana
Pacers, where James got two fans thrown out of the game, about what happened
during the incident with Stewart.

“Well, what happened is, you know there’s a box out on the free throw line,
his elbow got kind of high, got me, if you look, watch the film, he got me
off balance a little bit, and his elbow lifted my arm here,” James said. “And
I basically tried to swim, move, swim down on him on his arm. And when I
swing down on his arm, he got off balance and left side of my hand, you know,
grazed his face, and I knew right away, so. I knew right away I had caught
some part of his head, so, I went over to apologize to him. And obviously,
you guys seen what happened after that, but definitely accidental.”

“I mean, just like the, you know, the play last night on Russ, accidental hit
in the mouth, just like Sabonis [play] tonight, you know, accidental hit to
the eye, you know, definitely I’m not that type of player,” he continued.
“So, you know, I hate to see that where it escalated after that and I didn’t
think it [warranted], uh, I thought it warranted an ejection because of the,
of what happened after that, you know, having me probably still in the game
and the excitement from the fans, and what could possibly happen after that,
obviously. But a suspension, I didn’t think it was, I didn’t think it was
warranted, but the league made that call and here we are today.”

WATCH:
https://youtu.be/3TcJHJNIGKE

TRANSCRIPT:

REPORTER: So what happened with you and Isaiah Stewart, and what was your
reaction to the league suspending you?

LEBRON JAMES, THE LOS ANGELES LAKERS: Well, what happened is, you know,
there’s a box out on the free throw line, his elbow got kind of high, got me,
if you look, watch the film, he got me off balance a little bit, and his
elbow lifted my arm here. And I basically tried to swim, move, swim down on
him, on his arm. And when I swing down on his arm, he got off balance and
left side of my hand, you know, grazed his face, and I knew right away, so. I
knew right away I had caught some part of his head, so, I went over to
apologize to him. And obviously, you guys seen what happened after that, but
definitely accidental.

I mean, just like the, you know, the play last night on Russ, accidental hit
in the mouth, just like Sabonis [play], you know, accidental hit to the eye,
you know, definitely I’m not that type of player. So, you know, I hate to see
that where it escalated after that and I didn’t think it [warranted], uh, I
thought it warranted an ejection because of the, of what happened after that,
you know, having me probably still in the game and the excitement from the
fans, and what could possibly happen after that, obviously. But a suspension,
I didn’t think it was, I didn’t think it was warranted, but the league made
that call and here we are today.

--
Let's go Brandon!