One-Game Suspension for Grayson Allen Doesn’t Go Nearly Far Enough
So the Bulls are without Alex Caruso, their big defensive energy guy, for at least six to eight weeks with a broken right wrist. This already is on top of Lonzo Ball missing the same amount of time after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. Suddenly, the expectations for the rest of the regular season have gone from maintaining the top seed in the Eastern Conference to just getting healthy for the playoffs. And it’s all because one man with a history of dirty play decided to reach into his unethical bag of tricks at the wrong time for the Bulls.
You all know what happened by now. Caruso broke his wrist after Milwaukee Bucks guard Grayson Allen fouled him hard with both hands as he drove to the basket. The extra hand caused Caruso to fall to the floor violently, and Allen was ejected after the referees determined he had committed a flagrant-2 foul. Caruso was able to stay in the game, but the full extent of the damage wasn’t revealed until the next day. Now, the injury-ravaged Bulls have to figure out how to keep their heads above water until springtime.
So what punishment did Allen receive for crippling the Bulls for the foreseeable future? A one-game suspension. If the NBA wanted to deliver real justice, he would have had to sit until Caruso returns. But everyone and their brother knew the league wouldn’t have the stones to do that, and it didn’t.
How is it fair that the Bucks are down a player for one lousy game while the Bulls have to struggle for the next two months? No, Allen hasn’t played as dirty in the NBA as he did at Duke, but why should that matter? Everyone who follows basketball in general knows he had this reputation, and that’s why they were shocked but also not surprised to see him do this. If the NBA only took his history as a professional player into account, there needs to be a serious reevaluation of how it determines player discipline.
More importantly, what kind of precedent does this set for players? That they’re allowed to seriously injure other players and get off with only a slap on the wrist (no pun intended)? Hasn’t the NBA already moved on from allowing the Bill Laimbeers of the world to get away with violent acts on the court? If it hasn’t, someone needs to act as a whistleblower and say the league is not interested in really punishing anybody barring another Malice at the Palace or an owner having a Donald Sterling moment.
Also, would anyone really miss watching Allen play? He hasn’t done nearly enough as a professional to make a significant impact. Most people who think of him think of his college days first, so what does that say? Even if the NBA wouldn’t punish LeBron James or Stephen Curry for something so egregious, does a long break for Grayson Allen really affect your bottom line?
No sane human being can look at what happened and say Allen doesn’t deserve to miss more than one game. Then again, what do we know? We’re just the suckers who buy the tickets and merchandise to help make the NBA the billion-dollar entity it is. It’s not like we live in the real world or anything.
Whatever. All the Bulls can do now is lick their wounds and pray that the next incident like this isn’t treated like small potatoes. Right now, it feels like only a $5,000 fine would be given to a player who caused another to tear their ACL. How can we think of any other possibility when the NBA won’t take a situation like this seriously?
