Because of how they act on and off the court, NBA players have been suspended for years. The NBA wants their players to be honest and have high moral standards when they play for them. People make mistakes, and so do NBA players.
However, most mistakes can be forgiven if the player tries to make things right, like so many others have in the past. Today, we’ll look at the 7 Longest Suspensions in the NBA History. Some of them were able to go back to where they were before they had problems. People were never the same again.
7 Longest Suspensions- Kermit Washington
Kermit Washington‘s name will always be linked to a short but horrible mistake. This is a terrible thing. During a game between the Rockets and the Lakers in 1977, a fight broke out near the half-court line.
As Tomjanovich tried to stop the fight, Washington hit him with one of the hardest non-contact sports punches he had ever seen. Tomjanovich got a concussion from the blow, which also broke his nose and orbital bone and made him start bleeding from his spine into his mouth. Tomjanovich had to get better over a long period of time, but Washington only had to sit out 26 games.
Stephen Jackson
Stephen Jackson’s name being on this list doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Jackson was one of the best guards and forwards in the league when he was at his best, which is surprising since he was never an All-Star.
Due to the mistakes made by Pacers and Pistons players, the NBA gave Jackson one of its harshest punishments ever: a 30-game ban. Jackson played for the Clippers for ten more years in the NBA before he retired in 2014.
Javaris Crittenton
Javaris Crittenton‘s career came to an end when he was suspended for an incident he had with an unlikely teammate. Crittenton had just started playing in the NBA when the historic event took place. Javaris is said to have threatened Gilbert Arenas with a gun over debts from gambling.
Crittenton did have a handgun that was against the rules in his locker, even though he never used it to threaten Arenas. Because of this, the court gave Crittenton a 38-game suspension, probation, and community service. Crittenton’s reputation was never fixed, and he never played in another NBA game again.
Gilbert Arenas
In the fourth-biggest punishment in NBA history, the focus is on the other side of the Wizard’s locker room. Gilbert Arenas had three years in the middle of the 2000s when he was almost a superstar.
Arenas actually pulled out his gun, which was not loaded, and pointed it at his teammate. Even though the gun was empty, it did not have a license, and the league did not take this lightly. Arenas had already played 32 games, so he was banned for the rest of the season, which had 50 games.
Latrell Sprewell
In the early 1990s, Latrell Sprewell was a rising star with the Golden State Warriors. Sprewell did well as a rookie in 1993, and the two years after that, in 1994 and 1995, he was chosen as an All-Star. Sprewell then did something very strange: he choked, punched, and threatened his coach.
At first, the Warriors ended Sprewell’s entire $23.7 million contract and put him on a one-year suspension. When the NBA got involved, it was decided that the penalty would only be used for the last 68 games of that season.
Ron Artest
Even though Ron Artest has always been a little different from most NBA stars, there was no doubt about how important he was to his team’s success. While Artest was lying there, a fan threw a drink at him.
Artest, who had just fought Wallace, jumped up and started punching people in the grandstand right away. Artest lost control and had to be dragged off the court by his teammates and coaches as police and fans rushed to the scene. Because of the fight, Artest was banned from playing for 86 games, and the NBA had one of its worst PR disasters ever.
7 Longest Suspensions- O.J. Mayo
O.J. Mayo was picked third overall in the 2008 NBA Draft. After graduating from USC, he had to deal with a lot of pressure. At the end of the 2015–16 season, Mayo had just finished his worst year as a pro, but at 28 years old, he was still young enough to find a job in the league. Mayo got a two-year suspension from the NBA on July 1, 2016, because he failed the league’s anti-drug program.
Mayo had already been suspended for 10 games in 2011 for using drugs to improve his performance. The NBA never said why and how Mayo failed this time, but it was clear that they wanted him out of their league for good. Unfortunately, the NBA got what it wanted because Mayo never went back to the NBA after he could have.
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