NBA players have worked their whole lives to get to the top of the sport. They’ve put the long hours in the gym and the weight room and come up through the ranks, and for those fortunate enough to make it to the league, there’s a pretty nice living to be made. Even rookies make over a million dollars per year from the jump, and of course stars can get paid well in excess of $50 million per.
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Just like workers from other industries, NBA players want to maximize their earnings. They can do that through free agency, endorsements and other means, but what no player ever wants to see happen is to have money get taken out of their check.
That’s what happens when players get fined or suspended, which is why Myles Turner just doesn’t understand why we keep seeing fights break out during games. On the newest episode of Game Recognize Game with his cohost Breanna Stewart, he spoke about how pointless fighting really is.
“I’ve never really been in a real fight,” he said. “I’ve been in a tussle, a couple tussles here and there, you feel me? But not no real fight, man. It’s kinda a funny thing in the NBA, right? Like we all kinda know that there’s security right there, so it’s gonna be maybe four or five seconds of action.”
Turner recalled an incident years ago between himself and Rudy Gobert in which they pushed and grappled with each other but no punches were thrown. That’s as far as he’s willing to take it, because a) a suspension would hurt his bottom line, and b) the fight will get broken up within seconds anyway.
“I think what the average fan doesn’t realize is those game checks matter,” Turner said. “You’re losing millions of dollars.” He then used an example of a guy making $10 million a year who gets suspended 10 games for fighting. That guy would lose over a million dollars just for one dumb decision.
Turner previously referenced the fight between the Pistons and Hornets that broke out earlier this month. Pistons center Jalen Duren received a two-game suspension, while Charlotte’s Miles Bridges and Moussa Diabate each got four games.
Isaiah Stewart was penalized the heaviest for leaving the bench and escalating things, but Turner thought given his previous history, he got off relatively light with just seven games.
Still, that suspension cost Stewart almost $1.3 million of his $15 million salary this year, which is no small thing.
The Pistons-Hornets brawl wasn’t the only fight the NBA has seen this month. Earlier this week, the Heat and Grizzlies went at it too, but Turner doesn’t think it’s indicative of a larger epidemic, just that sometimes the wrong thing is said and things get a little too heated.
“There isn’t really a fighting issue in the league,” he said. “It’s just that tensions rise at times. Everybody talks s***, that’s part of the game. That’s just gonna happen regardless, and I think that just makes the game better. But sometimes lines get crossed, people get a little personal.”
Turner has had a frustrating season in his first year with the Bucks, but even though there’s a good chance they’re heading for the lottery, don’t expect to see him taking out his frustrations by squaring up with somebody. After all, the man has a LEGO addiction he needs to pay for.
