The end of the Lakers and Rockets matchup on Saturday night in Los Angeles felt much more like a key playoff game than the second game of the season. The two teams were battling in a one-point contest late when things got chippy after Brandon Ingram was called for a foul on James Harden.
Ingram shoved Harden and then got in the face of an official before being pulled away. In the meantime, Chris Paul and Rajon Rondo found themselves face-to-face, where Rondo may or may not have spit on Paul, who then shoved Rondo’s face leading to a left hook from Rondo connecting and Paul answering with a punch of his own — followed by a haymaker from Ingram running in. It was … a lot.
The melee will almost assuredly lead to suspensions for the three major players involved, all of whom were ejected from the game. However, the altercation didn’t stop there and apparently wasn’t reserved for just the players. According to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle and Shams Charania of The Athletic, a member of Rondo’s family confronted Paul’s wife, Jada, in the stands after the incident.
Chris Paul was still so angry after the game, multiple individuals said, because a member of Rajon Rondo's family made "inappropriate" comments to Paul's wife, Jada, in the stands after the altercation.
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) October 21, 2018
Sources on @TheAthleticNBA @WatchStadium: Along with Chris Paul/Rajon Rondo altercation in Lakers-Rockets, one of Rondo’s family members confronted Paul’s wife, Jada. NBA investigating tonight’s on-court altercations ahead of Rockets/Clippers on Sunday.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 21, 2018
Chris was irate about this, shouting about it in the locker room afterward. https://t.co/8qbGRMFfBX
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) October 21, 2018
Paul was incensed when he learned of this after the game, as he was seen by our Martin Rickman and other members of the media leaving the Rockets locker room quickly, vaguely telling Mike D’Antoni someone “tried to run up on her.” As Charania notes in his tweet, the league will look into this allegation as well and there’s no telling if it will have any factor into discipline coming the way of Rondo or anyone else.
The entire situation was ugly but isn’t terribly surprising given the history between Paul and Rondo, which dates back to early in Rondo’s career with the Celtics.
