Things are not going particularly well in Nap Town right now, as rumors are swirling about the Indiana Pacers potentially making a coaching change after only one year of Nate Bjorkgren due to internal discontent about his style. Those emotions appeared to boil over on Wednesday night, when one of Bjorkgren’s assistants and a member of the roster had a public spat during a timeout.
During the third quarter of what ended up being an 11-point loss to the Sacramento Kings, Greg Foster and Goga Bitadze began jawing with one another, causing other players and coaches to step in to keep things from really getting out of hand.
Goga Bitadze and Pacers assistant coach Greg Foster got into a heated discussion.
Myles Turner and multiple other players got involved to attempt to break up the confrontation. pic.twitter.com/9Xr96HmJg8
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 6, 2021
It’s unclear exactly what caused the two to get after one another like this, but one day later, the franchise has handed down discipline for the incident. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Foster will receive a one-game suspension, while Bitadze is out an unspecified amount of money. Wojnarowski also noted that the pair have a good relationship despite this exchange.
Pacers are suspending assistant Greg Foster for one game and fining Goga Bitadze for exchange on court Wednesday, sources tell ESPN. Foster and Bitadze have had a strong working relationship this season and that’s expected to continue, but emotions are running high in Indiana.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 6, 2021
The Pacers host the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday night, so Foster won’t be on the bench for that one. Indiana’s place in the play-in tournament seems secure barring a total meltdown to end the year — they’re 30-35, good for ninth place in the East and 3.5 games up on the 11th-seeded Toronto Raptors — but between this and the reports about a potential coaching change, it’s not a stretch to say that things could be going better for Indiana.
