PHOENIX – NBA games in mid-February are typically uneventful with players eager to finally rest their bodies during the imminent All-Star break. However a matchup on Valentine’s Day between the Detroit Pistons and Phoenix Suns didn’t consist of much love.
The game Wednesday night ended peacefully with the Suns winning 116-100, but started fiery and emotional after Pistons’ forward Isaiah Stewart punched Suns’ center Drew Eubanks in the face pregame, resulting in a “minor injury,” according to local police. Eubanks went on to play in the game, finishing with six points and six rebounds in 18 minutes.
Stewart was “arrested for assault and issued a citation and released. The investigation remains active,” Phoenix police said in a statement.
The incident reportedly started in the Footprint Center players’ parking lot and moved into the arena’s tunnels when Stewart and Eubanks were “going chest-to-chest” until Stewart connected with a swing at Eubanks’ mouth, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
The Suns, coach Frank Vogel and teammate Kevin Durant all spoke about the incident, each having Eubanks’ back.
“The attack on Drew Eubanks was unprovoked, and acts of violence such as this are unacceptable,” the Suns said in a statement. “We unequivocally support Drew, and will continue to work with local law enforcement and the NBA.”
Vogel said he found out about the scuffle when he arrived at the arena, roughly around the same time it happened.
“There’s no place for anything like that in our game. There’s no place for it,” he said.
Durant has seen a lot in his 17-year playing career, and offered his thoughts in an understanding way.
“Keep the game first, there’s a lot of noise around our game, there’s a lot of s— that comes with being an NBA player…It’s unfortunate what happened before the game, this is supposed to be a brotherhood, but also understand that dudes get into stuff and stuff may happen. We try to avoid that in this league, but s— happens and hopefully we can move on from it and we all support Drew and have Drew’s back.”
The motive behind the argument and punch are still unclear, and security footage is yet to be released. However, the disagreement between the players may have started during the first Suns-Pistons game this season on Nov. 5, when Eubanks and Stewart were physical with each other.
Eubanks spoke to the media before the game and said that he had never had any problems with Stewart outside of “just basketball s—…just stuff that goes on the court,” per Gerald Bourguet of PHNX.
“Clearly you can see what he does, how he acts on the court, so it wasn’t surprising…words were said, I got sucker punched, and security intervened,” Eubanks detailed.
Eubanks was referencing Stewart’s prior violent acts on the basketball court, which include an altercation with LeBron James in 2021 in which Stewart went beast-mode across the court, fighting through Pistons staff to try and get a piece of James. The kerfuffle resulted in a two-game suspension for Stewart. He also got into a brief tussle with Draymond Green in January of 2023, and then was ejected in a game earlier this season after giving Patrick Beverley a forearm shiver on a screen.
Leave a Reply