DETROIT, Mich. — A melee between Detroit Pistons players and Orlando Magic players at Detroit's bench on Wednesday night ended with multiple ejections.
One Magic player, Moritz Wagner, was ejected for a flagrant foul that started the scuffle; two Pistons players, Killian Hayes and Hamadou Diallo, were ejected in connection with the brawl at their bench following that.
In a video of the fight at the sideline that seemed to involve both teams in their entirety, Hayes appears to strike Wagner and leave him unconscious. In a post-game press interview, his brother Franz Wagner said he is alright. He implied it was never his brother's intention to start something.
For any player who leaves the bench, however, it's automatic suspension. When asked if the team knew this, Wagner said they did.
“You know normally, something like that happens on the court and not in front of one of the other benches, so I think that that’s I guess part of our worry that as teammates, you don’t want your teammate alone amongst the whole other team," he said.
Detroit's coach sounded off in dissatisfaction that no Magic player was ejected for the brawl.
“There were words being said by their players, coaches, that were not de-escalating the situation. And the official to his credit he said he didn’t hear it. Okay, I understand that. But for them not to have anyone ejected, I gotta go back and get an explanation," Dwane Casey told reporters.