What in the world is wrong with NBA players?
Minnesota Timberwolves shooting guard Austin Rivers and center Mo Bamba of the Orlando Magic got into a fistfight at the Target Center on Friday night that resulted in five players getting ejected.
Rivers is seen walking up to Bamba on his way up the court before hands started flying.
Austin Rivers and Mo Bamba trading punches, Rivers walked over the Magic bench pic.twitter.com/mqsndd3szz
— CJ Fogler AKA Perc70 #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) February 4, 2023
Austin Rivers and Mo Bamba got into an altercation on the court.
Five players were ejected from the game. pic.twitter.com/TbhF9JV5xa
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 4, 2023
Shooting guard Jalen Suggs of the Magic was tossed from the game after throwing Rivers down to the ground along with Timberwolves’ forwards Jaden McDaniels and Taurean Prince for inserting themselves into the scrum.
A few minutes prior to the fight, Bamba and Markelle Fultz were seen reacting to Rivers missing a three-point shot in front of Orlando’s bench. Rivers considered this to be what caused the altercation during his post-game press conference.
Mo bamba going on Instagram talking crap to Austin rivers when he started it is wild .. why is markelle fultz reacting like this lmao pic.twitter.com/q1GL7SiJCC
— John (@iam_johnw) February 4, 2023
Mo Bamba and Markelle Fultz teasing Austin Rivers after he missed a 3 before the fight pic.twitter.com/6Y3LYhqR8d
— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) February 4, 2023
After the game, Rivers and Bamba posted to their Instagram stories to address the incident. Bamba posted a picture of the played out “fuck around and find out” TikTok, while Rivers posted about how Bamba was only known for a rap song and that he would have choked him out if it weren’t for his teammates jumping in on the scrum.
Mo Bamba and Austin Rivers both took to Instagram following their altercation during Friday’s game. pic.twitter.com/SAOdA0xDdz
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) February 4, 2023
Regardless of who’s in the wrong, this is a horrible look for the NBA. This fight happened just one day after Memphis Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks and Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star Donovan Mitchell got into a physical altercation.
(RELATED: Draymond Green Hits Teammate During Warriors Practice)
After seeing this fight take place, all I could think about is the children that were in attendance. What are the parents who paid their hard-earned money to watch these two teams play supposed to say to their kids to try to rationalize this? It’s truly unjustifiable and disgusting, if you ask me.
It’s a tragedy that some of these NBA players get to call themselves “professionals.”