Last Friday night against the Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson got into a bit of a scuffle with Miami Heat point guard Goran Dragic. The two players bumped each other before Clarkson caught Dragic with a forearm to the chin.
There were questions as to whether Clarkson would be suspended, but he ultimately played in the Lakers Sunday game against the Orlando Magic.
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Now the NBA has finally made their ruling on the incident, fining Clarkson $15,000 according to Tania Ganguli of the LA Times:
Jordan Clarkson was fined $15,000 for "throwing a forearm above the shoulders" to Miami's Goran Dragic, the league said.
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) January 9, 2017
There was definitely some worry that Clarkson could be suspended for at least a game as he did hit Dragic in the face and the league tends to come down hard on situations like that. Both Clarkson and head coach Luke Walton downplayed the incident as a whole, and the league has done basically the same thing.
The altercation ended up being a major turning point in the game as the Lakers pulled away after the fact. The Heat, already shorthanded, lost their best player when Dragic went out and they could never recover while the Lakers handled business.
Sometimes in the heat of battle, these things happen. There hasn’t been too many scuffles with these Lakers this year, and hopefully, that will continue to be the case.