The NBA has suspended the Houston Rockets’ Marcus Smart for three games, the league announced on Thursday.
The ban comes after the veteran guard threw a punch at the Golden State Warriors’ Charles Bassey on Wednesday night. The punch grazed the nose of Bassey and Smart was issued a flagrant 2 and automatically ejected.
The Rockets won the game 115-108.
After the game, Bassey called the 2022 Defensive Player of the Year “fake tough.”
“I remember the first half, I was trying to set a screen [and] he grabbed my knee,” Bassey said. “He was playing dirty. I think I was trying to get a rebound. He was grabbing my hand, and I was trying to run back on defense. Then he got up on me and just swung. Obviously, that was weak. I just think that was, honestly, fake toughness.
“It didn’t surprise me. I knew he was going to do something. I don’t think he was trying to play. I think he was trying to get himself out of the game. I think he was trying to chill. He wasn’t trying to hoop. That was fake toughness.”
A native of Flower Mound, TX, the 32-year-old Smart is in his 13th NBA season out of Oklahoma State and first with the Rockets. He’s previously suited up for the Los Angeles Lakers, Washington Wizards and Memphis Grizzlies after spending the first nine seasons of his career with the Boston Celtics.
In nine games this season, Smart is averaging 8.3 points on .439 shooting, 2.6 boards and 2.0 assists over 21.4 minutes a night.
The suspension is the fourth of Smart’s career and the first since 2022.
Smart is now set to miss games against the Utah Jazz, Wizards and Miami Heat. He will be eligible to return in time for a Nov. 18 game against the Indiana Pacers.