John Wall Suspended Without Pay

Washington Wizards rookie point guard John Wall has been suspended after an altercation in a game against the Miami Heat. He will be suspended without pay for one-game, meaning the Wizards will have to try to play their next game without the best player they have.

According to ESPN, Wall's suspension came because he swung his right hand at Zydrunas Ilgauskas during an on-court tussle that took place in Wednesday night's Wizards-Heat game. The whole situation stemmed from tight defense that Wall was trying to play on the much bigger Ilgauskas. He got into the chest of the big man, who began swinging his elbows around, eventually connecting with Wall.

Wall took offense to the elbow and reacted, and a scrum broke out between most of the players on the court at the time. It really doesn't seem like a situation that will cause bad blood between the two organizations, but rather something that simply happened in the heat of the moment. Ilgauskas didn't like getting pestered, Wall didn't like getting elbowed, and the situation got out of control before the officials could separate the players.

In addition to the one-game suspension for Wall, Ilgauskas was given a $25,000 fine and Heat forward Juwan Howard was given a $35,000 fine for his participation in the standoff. At the end of the day this isn't that big of a deal, as they just got heated during a competitive game, and this doesn't seem like something that Wall would want to repeat.

Wall already responded: "Got hit by the elbow and reacted to it. Disappointed in the way I reacted. I let my teammates down, let the organization down. It was two elbows. I got hit with the first one; I stopped and waited. And the second one, I got hit, and I just reacted. "

One of his teammates, JaVale McGee, was less pleased with the resulting suspension, telling reporters that Wall wasn't going to stand for getting "punked."

There are two different ways to look at this suspension, with one being that Wall can't keep himself under control. The second way to look at this could be quite positive for the Wizards and their fans, though. This does show that Wall has the toughness to compete at a higher level, and it proves that he is not going to back down from confrontation or competition. Ilgauskas is much bigger than Wall, yet he had no problem guarding him closely on the court. That right there is yet another reason to be high on Wall as he continues to develop in the NBA.

The game that Wall will miss is a home game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday, April 1.

Reference:

John_Wall_Player_Card