The 7 Players Responsible For The Longest Suspensions In NBA History

There are a ton of NBA players who’ve managed to draw the ire of the league to the point where they’ve been suspended. Most of those temporary bans aren’t for more than a handful of games, but there are some guys who’ve earned a borderline impressive one after leaping over the line.

These are the longest suspensions an NBA player has ever served

As far as I can tell, the NBA does not provide the public with stats concerning the many suspensions it’s handed out over the years, so there’s no way to know just how many players have been forced to take an involuntary leave of absence since its inception.

The league has hit dozens of players with lifetime bans over drug use and gambling scandals, including some who successfully lobbied to be reinstated after being banished. There are others who effectively saw their career come to an end after being served with a lengthy suspension, but for the purpose of this list, I’m going to be focusing on players who served their time and were eligible to make their way back.

I won’t be listing owners and coaches who suffered a similar fate, although Robert Sarver (93 games), Mark Stevens (65), and Ime Udoka (59) would be making an appearance if I were. Additionally, I’ll be ranking these in the order of the number of contests a player actually missed as opposed to the initial length of the suspension in cases where they successfully appealed.

7. Kermit Washington: 26 Games

There are a few players on this list who have been suspended for their role in a fight on the court. That includes Kermit Washington, who was responsible for throwing what is probably the most devastating punch in NBA history.

Washington was playing for the Lakers when they faced off against the Rockets on December 9, 1977. Washington was among a number of players who found themselves involved in an altercation at midcourt, and he saw Houston’s Rudy Tomjanovich running toward the fray before delivering a punch that sent him crumpling down to the hardwood.

Tomjanovich, who later said he was running in to try to break things up as opposed to escalating the situation, suffered fractures to his skull, nose, and jaw and missed the rest of the season. Washington was fined $10,000 and suspended for 60 days, and he missed 26 games before returning.

T5. Miles Bridges

The bulk of the suspensions here are at least tangentially related to basketball, but that was not the case with the case that led to Miles Bridges being forced to sit out for 30 games.

In 2022, the Hornets forward was arrested over a domestic incident where he was accused of attacking Mychelle Johnson in front of two of the four children they share. A police report said she suffered a concussion and a facial fracture (among other injuries) after Bridges choked and struck her, and he ultimately pleaded no contest to the felony charge he was hit with.

He avoided jail time after being sentenced to probation for three years, and in 2023, the NBA suspended him for 30 games after wrapping up its investigation into the incident.

T5. Stephen Jackson: 30

There probably isn’t a more infamous on-the-court moment in NBA history than the “Malice at the Palace,” which refers to the chaotic scene that unfolded when the Pistons hosted the Pacers on November 19, 2004.

A total of nine players were suspended for their role in the massive brawl that began on the court and ultimately spilled into the stands. That includes Indiana’s Stephen Jackson, who joined Ron Artest (who we’ll be mentioning in a moment) in the seats after the latter went ballistic when a spectator threw a drink at him.

Jackson served a 30-game suspension and also had to deal with some legal ramifications that led to him being placed on probation for a year and paying a $250 fine, which paled in comparison to the $1.7 million in game checks he forfeited.

4. Javaris Crittenton

The next two suspensions on this list both stemmed from the same incident that transpired in the Wizards locker room on Christmas Eve in 2009.

Gilbert Arenas is probably the first name that springs to mind when you hear about the encounter where two members of the team pulled guns on each other over gambling debts, as Agent Zero was the man who allegedly failed to pay the $1,100 he lost in a poker game on a team flight.

The teammate he owed was Javaris Crittenton, who brought an unloaded firearm of his own into the locker room. On January 27, 2010, he was suspended for the remainder of the season, which meant he officially missed 39 games (it’s worth noting he hadn’t recorded an appearance during that campaign prior to that point).

Crittenton never played in the NBA after that, and he was later sentenced to a decade in prison over a fatal shooting that led to him being hit with a manslaughter charge.

3. Gilbert Arenas: 50 Games

Arenas didn’t do himself any favors with the gun-related choreography he pulled out during a pregame introduction a couple of weeks after the altercation with Crittenton transpired, and the NBA made it pretty clear it was intent on making an example of the man who was firmly the more high-profile player involved in the incident.

He was suspended on January 6th in the midst of the investigation that ended with the league keeping him out for the rest of the season, which meant he was ultimately sidelined for 50 games.

2. Latrell Sprewell: 68 Games

Latrell Sprewell’s anger issue led to him landing in hot water multiple times over the course of his career, but none of those incidents garnered more attention—or a harsher punishment—than the one that brought his time with the Warriors to an end.

Golden State was practicing on December 1, 1997 when head coach P. J. Carlesimo directed Sprewell to put a bit more juice into his passes. That criticism did not land well with his player, who informed the skipper he wasn’t looking for feedback and warned him to keep his distance.

Carlesimo declined to heed that warning, and Sprewell responded by wrapping his hands around his throat and choking him for around 10 seconds before he was pulled away. He was sent to the locker room to cool off but threw a punch at Carlesimo after emerging, and the Warriors initially suspended him for 10 games.

However, they opted to void his contract after the incident made headlines, and the NBA issued a suspension of its own: a full season’s worth of 82 games. However, it was reduced to the remainder of that season after he appealed, which ended up being 68 games.

1. Ron Artest: 86 Games

Ron Artest was responsible for the hard foul that essentially started the Malice at the Palace, as his decision to hack Ben Wallace during a lay-up attempt led to the Detroit center responding with a forceful shove.

He was also responsible for escalating it to the point where it went down as one of the darkest moments in NBA history, although some blame can be placed on the fan who chucked a drink at him after he decided to lie down on the scorer’s table as the referees were attempting to restore order.

Artest stormed into the stands to attack the man he thought had thrown the drink (he actually went after the wrong guy), and was subsequently hit with the harshest punishment of any player after the NBA suspended him for the remainder of the season.

He forfeited around $5 million due to the 73 regular season games he missed, and that number ended up being a total of 86 when you consider he was unable to play during a postseason run that lasted 13 games.