The NBA Finals will be over within the next week, and the Big3 has once again proved why it should fill the basketball-shaped hole in your heart this summer.
Its season kicked off this weekend in violent fashion thanks to an altercation between Lance Stephenson and Dwight Howard, where the Miami 305 beat the Los Angeles Riot, 50-44.
It began as they were standing under the basket, and Stephenson appeared to shove his elbow into Howard’s chest. Howard responded by grabbing him by the back of the head and attempting to swing him around. Eventually, the tussle spills over into the media area, and wires are pulled as they continue to grab at each other, just inches away from the fans.
Team staff, teammates from both sides, and security personnel attempted to intervene but also wound up getting caught up in the chaos, ending up on the court themselves.
The Ice Cube-led league is certainly more physical than the NBA, but fighting is a bridge too far, so both Howard and Stephenson were ejected.
Prior to the ejection, Stephenson was also bugging Jordan Crawford, so Crawford shoved his finger up his nose. Stephenson immediately threw a punch at his face but was held back.
Stephenson and Howard are both three years removed from their last NBA game and were nearly teammates in Los Angeles in 2019.
Howard, an eight-time all-star and NBA champion, has gained a new on-court enemy, fresh off squashing his age-old beef with fellow big man Shaq, who agreed to be by his side when he gets inducted into the Hall of Fame.
For Stephenson, he’s always been an annoyance on the court, once amusing LeBron James by blowing in his ear. But most recently, he got out-trolled by Michael Beasley before getting blown out in a game of one-on-one.
See social media’s response to the Stephenson-Howard brawl below.