Lance Stephenson and Michael Beasley Suspended by BIG3 After Wild Week 1 Brawl in Miami Loss
The BIG3 wanted physical play. It got punches. Now two of its biggest names are sitting out for it.
The league suspended Lance Stephenson and Michael Beasley for one game each Sunday after a chaotic Week 1 matchup between Miami 305 and the LA Riot. Beasley got tangled up with Dwight Howard. Stephenson swung on someone later in the same game. Miami did not have enough bodies to keep playing and had to forfeit.
“Competition drives our league. We embrace physical play and welcome trash talk. However, fighting of any kind will not be tolerated,” the BIG3 said in a statement.
The suspensions are being staggered so Miami can actually field a team for Week 2 against the Detroit Amps on June 27. That should tell you how short the BIG3 rosters already are. Lose two players from the same team in the same week and the schedule starts breaking.
The Stephenson Problem Is Not New
Lance Stephenson getting tossed for fighting is the most predictable headline in summer basketball. This is a guy who blew in LeBron James’ ear, did the air guitar mid-game, and turned heel for an entire decade. He has built his whole second act on being unpredictable.
He was also in a fight with Dwight Howard in the BIG3 last year. Different week, same script. Different opponent, same outcome. Howard was involved in the Beasley scuffle on Saturday as well, which suggests the bad blood between Howard and the Miami 305 roster has not gone anywhere.
Beasley is the more surprising name. The former No. 2 overall pick has been working his way back to basketball relevance for years, and the BIG3 has been part of that. Getting suspended in Week 1 is a setback he did not need.
Miami 305 also lost the game because of all this. The forfeit drops them to 0-1 to start the season. That is a hole that is hard to climb out of in a short BIG3 season where every game matters for playoff seeding.
Ice Cube and the BIG3 have leaned into the chaos for years. The league sells itself as more physical than the NBA, more entertaining than retired-player exhibitions, and willing to let stars be stars. The flip side is that two of those stars decided to settle a grudge with their fists on opening weekend.
A one-game suspension is light, considering the league had to call a game off. Some fans expected longer. The BIG3 likely calculated that pulling Stephenson and Beasley off the slate entirely would hurt ticket sales and broadcast interest more than the actual fight did.
Both players will be back in the rotation soon. Miami still has to figure out how to win a game. And Howard, predictably, is going to be in the middle of whatever happens next. The BIG3 said no fighting. It did not promise no drama.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
