Day: April 1, 2025

The NBA has issued the following suspensions following Sunday’s altercation between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Detroit Pistons.

The incident began when Ron Holland II committed a defensive foul on Naz Reid with 8:36 remaining in the second quarter of the Timberwolves’ 123-104 victory over the Pistons on March 30 at Target Center. Following that foul, Reid pointed at and confronted Holland. Holland then pushed Donte DiVincenzo and in response, DiVincenzo escalated the incident by shoving Holland II in the chest. The two players along with Reid became entangled and fell into the spectator stands. Isaiah Stewart and Marcus Sasser then entered the altercation near the spectator stands and shoved DiVincenzo and Reid, which resulted in a continued escalation of the situation. For their roles, all five players were assessed technical fouls and ejected from the game.

The length of Stewart’s suspension is based in part on his repeated history of unsportsmanlike acts, announced the NBA.

• Isaiah Stewart: 2 game suspension
• Donte DiVincenzo: 1 game suspension
• Ron Holland: 1 game suspension
• Naz Reid: 1 game suspension
• Marcus Sasser: 1 game suspension

The Memphis Grizzlies’ front office felt like Taylor Jenkins had “lost the locker room” this season following an offseason reconstruction of his coaching staff and their struggles in the second half. The internal perception was that the players, most importantly Ja Morant, had tuned him out.

“That team has lost all of [its] swagger,” a rival Western Conference player told ESPN.

“You could just tell no one was on the same page,” one team source said.

The Grizzlies also fired Noah LaRoche along with Jenkins while elevating Tuomas Iisalo. Memphis hired LaRoche almost two months before hiring Iisalo. The Grizzlies had planned to build their assistant coaching staff around LaRoche.

Jenkins went along with the front office request to overhaul the coaching staff to “be a good partner.”

“Taylor shouldn’t have allowed that to happen,” said a source.

“Players aren’t stupid,” another source said. “They know where this is heading when you fire five assistants after the season.”

The New Orleans Pelicans and point guard Elfrid Payton are signing a second 10 Day contract. Following this deal, to keep Payton on the roster, the Pelicans would need to sign him for the remainder of the season.

This is actually Payton’s third deal with New Orleans this regular season. He was previously with the team on a non-guaranteed contract prior to his first 10 Day contract. Overall, in 11 games with the Pelicans, Payton has averaged 5.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game.

New Orleans recently shut down guard C.J. McCollum and forward Zion Williamson for the rest of the season due to injuries. The Pelicans are also without wings Herb Jones and Trey Murphy III, and guard Dejounte Murray for the rest of the season due to injuries.