A late-game punch just cost Marcus Smart three games. The NBA suspended the Houston Rockets guard without pay Thursday after he hit, then brushed, Golden State Warriors center Charles Bassey.
Doing the exact opposite of his last name, the 32-year-old former Defensive Player of the Year collapsed in the third quarter of Houston’s 115-108 victory.
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Smart and Bassey found themselves tied up fighting for position under the glass, barked at each other as the game ended, and Smart uncorked a right hook that grazed Bassey’s nose. Teammates, coaches and officials quickly stepped in between them.
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Smart didn’t wait for the replay to end before heading to the locker room. The referees gave him a Flagrant 2 foul and the 13th expulsion of his career, finishing his night with six points, two rebounds and an assist in 17 minutes. He will miss Friday’s home game against the Utah Jazz, Sunday’s away game at Washington and Monday’s trip to Miami before becoming eligible to return Nov. 18 against the Indiana Pacers.
Houston Rockets guard Marcus Smart is restrained after a confrontation with Golden State Warriors center Charles Bassey during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Houston, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
After the game, Rockets head coach Ime Udoka relayed Smart’s excuse for throwing his hands.
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According to Udoka, Smart claimed that Bassey wrapped Smart’s previously injured elbow during the entanglement.
When Smart confronted him about it, Bassey allegedly responded, “What are you going to do?”
“And he did it,” Udoka told reporters.
Bassey, who finished with seven points and six rebounds in 13 minutes, was unimpressed with the swing and unloaded on Smart in the locker room.
Golden State Warriors center Charles Bassey is restrained after a confrontation with Houston Rockets guard Marcus Smart during the second half of an NBA game in Houston, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Marcus Smart of the Houston Rockets and Charles Bassey of the Golden State Warriors are separated during the third quarter at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas on November 11, 2026. (Getty Images)
Bassey accused Smart of playing dirty all night, alleging the guard grabbed his knee while Bassey tried to set a screen in the first half. Bassey admitted he goaded Smart into reacting and dismissed the punch as an excuse to clock out early.
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“I knew he was going to do something,” he said. “I goaded him into doing something, because I knew he was going to do something. I don’t think he was trying to play. I think he was trying to get out of the game. He wasn’t trying to play…I think he was trying to relax. He wasn’t trying to hoop, bro.”
The ban marks the third NBA suspension in Smart’s 13-year career, following one-game bans from the league for hitting Matt Bonner in 2015 and threatening an official in 2021, as well as more than a dozen fines including a $50,000 penalty for shoving Joel Embiid in 2019.
Houston still closed out the win by seven points, but Smart’s thin skin will cost him three games and six figures.
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