Three days after the incident between LeBron James and Isaiah Stewart in the Los Angeles Lakers' win over the Detroit Pistons that resulted in James receiving his second career ejection and first career suspension, the superstar forward had an opportunity to address the altercation.
After leading the Lakers to an OT win versus the Indiana Pacers, LeBron was asked to detail what happened on his flagrant-2 foul and ensuing fracas with Stewart, whose incensed and dangerous reaction clearly escalated the situation beyond what anyone expected.
đ¨SCUFFLE between Isaiah Stewart AND LeBron leaves blood on the court floor. đ¨ #LakeShow vs#pistons https://t.co/rVRl5nLbl4
â ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) November 22, 2021
James said the interaction was purely physical and certainly accidental.
âWhat happened is: it was a box out on the free-throw line, his elbow got me off balance a little bit ⌠I tried to swim move down on his arm, the left side of my hand grazed his face. I knew right awayâŚI went over to apologize to him, and you guys see what happened after that. Definitely accidentalâŚdefinitely not that type of player. I hated to see that, what escalated after that.â
"I thought it warranted an ejection because of what happened after that.. A suspension, I didn't think, was warranted."
LeBron James on his altercation with Isaiah Stewart during Lakers-Pistons game.
(via @kylegoon)pic.twitter.com/wK6dVfnyND
â ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) November 25, 2021
LeBron acknowledged that his ejection was âwarranted ⌠because of what happened after that,â and understood why he couldn't remain in the game following such an intense kerfuffle. However, he was not happy about missing his annual trip to Madison Square Garden as the Lakers fell to the Knicks, 106-100.
The NBA suspended LeBron for âinitiating an on-court altercation,â which is technically true but probably a bit unfair to put on LeBron. As he noted, LeBron tried to apologize right away and has no history of dirty play nor escalating on-court skirmishes.
Not positive âinitiating an on-court altercationâ is fair on LeBron. Wouldâve been a flagrant 2 and ended at some chirping and pushing if not for Stewartâs reaction pic.twitter.com/o1nFzVDLh4
â Michael Corvo (@michaelcorvoNBA) November 23, 2021
âEveryone in the league knows LeBronâs not a dirty guy,â Anthony Davis said Sunday. âA soon as he did it, he looked back at him like, âOh, my bad. I didnât try to do it.'â
James' âswim moveâ was reckless, but not malicious.
âThe suspension, I didnât think that was warranted,â he said. (I agreed.)
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5ZkB0Afb0eKhGDSO3sDGR4?si=eb30a01903fc461f
James reportedly tried to seek out Stewart after the game to apologize. Evidently, he was not successful.
When asked on Wednesday if he had spoken to the Pistons big-man, LeBron cut off the reporter before he finished the question: âNo.â