Two professional NBA players were fully ejected from a game this past weekend after they took part in a fight that resulted in it moving out into the stands.
This past Saturday evening, the Toronto Raptors’ Christian Koloko and Miami Heat’s Caleb Martin were both kicked out during the third quarter in the wake of a scuffle breaking out between the pair of athletes.
Both Martin and Koloko attempted to go up to grab a rebound after a failed 3-point attempt when they came back down tangled up on each other.
When Koloko crashed to the floor, Martin towered over him in an aggressive manner, and when Koloko bumped into Martin as he got back to his feet, Martin shoved and tackled Koloko into the strands.
The fight resulted in a tangle of players, staff, and coaches sprinting over to attempt to break up the altercation.
WATCH:
Tensions are HIGH between the Raps and Heat!
Caleb Martin and Christian Koloko get into it on the court. pic.twitter.com/7bNwJf0sAI
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) October 23, 2022
Koloko stated in the aftermath that he had absolutely zero ideas as to what caused Martin to tackle him into the stands.
“He just stood there looking at me like crazy,” he claimed. “I just stood up. I don’t know.”
Martin made the claim that there were “a lot of plays that were kind of leading up to it.”
“It was a chippy game. That’s typically how the game goes with Toronto,” Martin went on. “It’s a chippy back and forth. But ultimately I just think that emotions were high and the game was a close game. It was back and forth. Overall, I got to be more professional in the way I handle those type of situations.”
That night, Miami ended up taking the win 112-109.
The NBA officially slammed Martin with a one-game suspension, which when calculated by ESPN came out to costing the player roughly $45,000.
Koloko was directly hit with a $15,000 fine, and Heat rookie Nikola Jovic also found himself hit with a suspension due to his leaving the bench for the incident.
“Miami Heat forward Caleb Martin has been suspended one game without pay for instigating an on-court altercation by taunting Toronto Raptors center Christian Koloko and then tackling him into the spectator stands, and Koloko has been fined $15,000 for grabbing Martin during the altercation,” the NBA stated in a release. “Heat forward Nikola Jovic has also been suspended one game without pay for leaving the bench area and entering the altercation. The incident, for which Martin and Koloko were each assessed one technical foul and ejected, began when the players became entangled while battling for rebounding position. The incident occurred with 7:46 remaining in the third quarter of the Heat’s 112-109 win over the Raptors at FTX Arena on Oct. 22.”
The league claimed that both Jovic and Martin would carry out their single-game suspensions on Monday as the heat tips off against the Raptors at FTX Arena.