NBA

Even Dwyane Wade Can’t Get Away With Kicking An Opponent In The Groin

If you read our site yesterday (or pretty much any sports- and/or basketball-centric site on the internet), you probably saw the video of Dwyane Wade kicking the Bobcats’ Ramon Sessions in the groin. Let’s revisit that video, shall we?

Wade defended himself, saying he “just reacted,” but a lot of people were unhappy with the groin kick – and the fact that Wade wasn’t called for a foul – regardless. A sampling of comments and tweets we received regarding the incident:

another in the long line of D Wade cheap shots. The NBA were stars get to kick nonstars in the nuts!

should get a 10 to 25 grand fine for this cheap shot. But knowing old man stern. Hes not done blowing wade yet so no harm no foul.

Wade is dirty as hell. Not his first time doing this. #scumbag #Heat

But perhaps that very same David Stern read our site (lol) and took fans’ complaints into consideration (LOLLLLLLL), because it turns out Wade won’t get off so easily after all: he was suspended a game without pay after the league reviewed the play. While the league was a little more careful in its wording than the rest of us (they announced the suspension was for “for flailing his leg and making contact with the groin”), a one-game suspension without pay is a lot more than many thought Wade would get. He’s a star, after all, and stars do tend to get preferential treatment – not just in the NBA, but in just about any walk of life.

So let this be a warning to NBAers everywhere: kick an opponent in the nuts, invite the wrath of Stern. One game’s far from catastrophic – as long as LeBron’s playing at full strength, the Heat should have enough to beat the Pistons tonight – but it’s something, and that does have symbolic value. And as far as getting docked a game’s worth of pay goes: remember that commenter who said Wade should be fined $10-25K? Wade makes about $17 million a season. Dividing that by 82 works out to about $207,610 per game. So… league came down pretty tough on a star player, eh?

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