CJ McCollum will miss the first game of the 2017 NBA regular season after a preseason incident where he left the bench area during an on-court altercation.
McCollum’s suspension was announced by executive vice president of basketball operations Kiki VanDeWeghe on Saturday. The suspension stems from an incident against the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night.
If you didn’t hear about this incident earlier in the week and are a bit confused by all this, it’s because McCollum didn’t actually do much to earn his suspension. The Blazers guard was barely involved in the incident that will force him to miss the season opener on Wednesday against the Suns.
McCollum left the bench area with 9:33 left in the fourth quarter of Portland’s 113-104 preseason win when Alex Len and Caleb Swanigan got tied up under the basket. The two battled back and forth a bit after the whistle, and players gathered around the two as they struggled and officials and coaches tried to break everything up.
Len was the only player ejected during the incident. But McCollum briefly left the baseline and took a step or two toward the action before being pushed back by a Portland coach. Apparently that was enough to warrant suspension by the NBA, which clearly does not want bench players exacerbating these situations with their presence on the floor. It’s a significant loss in salary for McCollum as well.
As many have noted, ESPN reports McCollum will lose $165k. 1/82nd of his pay this year is around $290k. Either way, it's a lot of money.
— Casey Holdahl (@CHold) October 14, 2017
This is certainly the case where the NBA is following the letter of the law more than the spirit. McCollum didn’t actually do anything here, but he was technically where he wasn’t supposed to be.
