Bobby Portis escaped suspension after making a dangerous foul on Washington Wizards guard Tomas Satoransky, but the NBA is not going to reduce the original flagrant foul 2 called on the Chicago Bulls power forward. This is according to Bulls insider Vincent Goodwill of NBC Sports Chicago.

The NBA did not downgrade Bobby Portis' flagrant 2 foul on Washington's Tomas Satoransky Saturday night

The play in question happened during the dying minutes of the fourth quarter of Chicago’s road game against the Wizards last Saturday. After getting a pass from Bradley Beal, Satoransky recognized an empty baseline and freely drove to the basket. Just when he was going up for what could have been a dunk, Satoransky was met mid-air by Bobby Portis, who slid down from the free throw line to challenge the shot. Unfortunately for Satoransky, his collision with Portis caused him to fall hard while blood was seen seeping from his head.

Portis would later be assessed with a flagrant foul 2, though initial reviews saw him going after the ball and without clear evidence of intent to hurt Satoransky. Nevertheless, the NBA will not downgrade Portis’ flagrant foul 2. In trying to make sense of the league’s discretion when it comes to calling flagrant fouls, Goodwill believed that the NBA puts a bigger focus on a play’s result than the intent.

One thing is clear from the NBA: they will punish the result of a play as opposed to “intent” or even “going for the ball”. If it's a foul, anything is in play.

So had Satoransky not fallen back as hard or if he were a heavier player, it's certain Portis wouldn't have gotten a flagrant 2. But like helmet-to-helmet contact in the NFL, it's certainly tricky

The Bulls lost that game, 101-90, but if anything, Portis personified the Bulls’ willingness to compete hard on any given night despite all the rumors tying them to tanking.