Portland Trail Blazers Guard C. J. McCollum Gets One-Game Suspension for Leaving Bench in Preseason Game
In the National Basketball Association (NBA), players are prohibited from leaving the bench area during an altercation. But in the heat of the moment, some players tend to forget about this rule and they have paid dearly for these minor mental lapses.
During the fourth quarter of the preseason game between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Phoenix Suns last Wednesday, Trail Blazers forward Caleb Swanigan got into a shoving match with Suns center Alex Len, and as they were getting separated C. J. McCollum stood up and walked toward the court.
The fifth-year shooting guard didn't engage with anyone, but the league has always been strict with this longstanding rule. Now the Blazers will have to make do without McCollum in their season opener against the Suns this Wednesday because the NBA's executive vice president of basketball operations, Kiki VanDeWeghe, has confirmed that he has been suspended for one game without pay for leaving the bench.
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"I've been in the league way too long to have a mental lapse like that. I want to apologize to my teammates and the organization for putting our team in this situation," McCollum said, via ESPN. "I take full responsibility for those eight expensive and costly steps," he added.
McCollum had no choice but to serve the suspension. However, he wasn't happy about it and he thought the punishment was too harsh.
"They could have suspended me for the preseason game. They could have fined me more money and allowed me to play in the regular season game. It's the intent and it's usually up to them, it's to their discretion. So they had a choice. They didn't have to suspend me," McCollum said, according to the Oregonian.
Evan Turner, Maurice Harkless and Pat Connaughton should all see an uptick in minutes while McCollum serves his one-game suspension.
