The NBA handed down discipline for Monday night’s Pistons–Hornets brawl, but instead of settling the controversy, the league poured gasoline on it. What was supposed to close the book on a chaotic on-court fight has now reopened a much louder debate about consistency, accountability, and how discipline is handled under Adam Silver.

By Wednesday morning, the focus had shifted away from the fight itself and squarely onto the punishment. Not because players were suspended, but because many fans believe the penalties did not go nearly far enough.

The altercation occurred late in the third quarter at Spectrum Center after a foul between Detroit’s Jalen Duren and Charlotte’s Moussa Diabate escalated. The two went nose to nose, Duren shoved Diabate, and chaos followed almost immediately.

Charlotte’s Miles Bridges then swung at Duren and charged toward him. As security tried to intervene, Stewart sprinted in from the bench area, squared up with Bridges, and the two exchanged punches. Stewart eventually put Bridges in a headlock before coaches and security regained control.

On Wednesday, the NBA announced the following suspensions, first reported by Shams Charania:

• Stewart: seven games
• Bridges: four games
• Diabate: four games
• Duren: two games

Stewart received the longest ban by a clear margin.

According to the league, the length of Stewart’s suspension was influenced by “his repeated history of unsportsmanlike acts,” as well as his decision to leave the bench area and aggressively enter the altercation.

Context matters here. Stewart, 24, has built a reputation around physical confrontations. Just last season, he was involved in a Pistons–Timberwolves fight that resulted in seven total suspensions. That history followed him into this ruling.

The league also cited Stewart’s role as an escalator, not an initiator. He was not involved in the initial foul, but he ran in from the bench and directly engaged in the most violent portion of the incident.

That explanation, however, has done little to quiet the backlash.

The NBA community turns on Adam Silver and Co.

“I mean, this league is a f–king disgrace.” This is what one of the fans commented regarding Adam Silver’s punishment for the four players involved in Monday night’s scuffle. He couldn’t comprehend the fact that only Isaiah Stewart was handed a seven-game ban despite both Diabate and Duren starting the altercation.

However, he wasn’t alone, as more such reactions soon poured in. “My a-s thought that sh-t will be like 10 or sum at least,” another fan wrote, as he was shocked at the minimal suspensions handed to several players. Well, seemingly the only reason why punishment wasn’t longer for the other players was because of them not have a history of unsportsmanlike conduct similar to Stewart.

Still, fans believe the punishment could’ve been stricter. More so, after a person reminded everyone that Memphis Grizzlies superstar Ja Morant was suspended for 25 games for showing his pistol in an open carry state. “Just a reminder that Ja Morant holding a pistol in an open carry state got more suspended games than everyone on this list COMBINED, INCLUDING repeat offenders,” he wrote.

Although the nature of the two instances is quite different, the fan still seems to be making a fair point. Seemingly, the league’s commissioner should have handed down much heavier punishments, especially with players getting violent with each other on the court. However, a few believe this would not been the case had David Stern been in Adam Silver’s place.

“These players better be lucky stern isn’t the commissioner cause all these dudes would be playing basketball in Pelican Bay when he got done. 😂,” someone suggested. Indeed, after all, Stern had a zero-tolerance policy for violence on the court. In fact, after the infamous ‘Malice in the Palace’ incident, Stern handed down suspensions to nine players totaling 146 games.

That should give you a good idea of how he would’ve dealt with his altercation. Meanwhile, another fan shared a similar sentiment. “Lol NBA really is bulls–t, Duren started the fight and gets suspended the fewest of games, meanwhile Stewart ran off the bench and assaulted another player defending his teammate and doesn’t even get suspended at 10 games minimum,” he stated.

Overall, it’s pretty clear that the NBA community feels like Adam Silver and Co. have let these players off the hook pretty easily. And you have to agree to that, given the nature of the incident, the punishments do feel pretty low. So, will this prompt the league to change its stance? Perhaps not. But it should be a message that the fans aren’t happy with how this was dealt and would want things to change in the future.