Before the Phoenix Suns’ game against the Detroit Pistons Wednesday night, there was an incident between Drew Eubanks and Isaiah Stewart in the arena tunnels of the Footprint Center.
As first reported by The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the two big men had words, which resulted in Stewart throwing a punch and connecting with Eubanks’ face.
Eubanks spoke in the Suns locker room before the game on the incident, noting that he had just entered the arena and was still in street clothes at the time.
“Basically we were walking in, words were said, and then got face-to-face and he just sucker-punched me,” Eubanks said. “Security got in the way.”
It’s unclear what words were exchanged to escalate the situation, but Eubanks said he hadn’t had any prior beef with Stewart in the past.
“Just basketball shit,” he explained. “Just stuff that goes on the court.”
Following an in-game altercation with the Los Angeles Lakers that went viral two years ago, where an enraged Stewart tried to pursue LeBron James after taking an elbow to the face, Stewart developed a reputation for not hesitating to escalate a situation.
“Clearly, you can see what he does, how he acts on the court, so it’s not surprising,” Eubanks said.
The NBA is expected to review footage of the incident. Police were called to the scene and needed to get involved in order to separate the two. Later Wednesday night, it was reported that Stewart had been arrested by Phoenix police for assault, issued a citation and subsequently released:
A Suns spokesperson released a statement:
“The attack on Drew Eubanks was unprovoked, and acts of violence such as this are unacceptable. We unequivocally support Drew, and will continue to work with local law enforcement and the NBA.”
Before the game, Eubanks said he felt fine, aside from some blood on his teeth. He insisted in the locker room that he would play Wednesday night against Detroit.
“Nah, I’m straight,” Eubanks said. “Soft punch.”
Eubanks went on to finish his night with 6 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block in 18 minutes in the Suns’ 116-100 win. Stewart was inactive, sitting out with an ankle sprain.
After the game, coaches Frank Vogel and Monty Williams shared their thoughts on the incident.
“I got here shortly around when it happened, and there’s no place for anything like that in our game,” Vogel said. “There’s no place for it. But we released the statement as a team. I don’t have anything really more to add to that.”
As for Williams, the former Suns coach preferred to avoid making any definitive statements until he had gathered all the facts. Williams had talked with Stewart to get his perspective, and he called it “irresponsible” that the Suns put out a statement before he believed they had gotten both sides of the story.
For Kevin Durant, his main focus was how the Suns were able to “keep the game first” by not letting those emotions — or Devin Booker’s first-quarter ejection — distract them.
“It’s a lot of noise around our game, there’s a lot of shit that comes with being an NBA player,” Durant said. “You keep the main thing, the main thing, and all of that stuff will fade away.
“It’s unfortunate what happened before the game. This is supposed to be a brotherhood, but also understanding dudes get into stuff and stuff may happen. We try to avoid that in this league, but shit happens, and hopefully we can move on from it. We all support Drew and got Drew’s back, and he’ll move past it.”
