What do people think of the punishment here?
Warriors suspend Ellis for mo-ped accident
By GREG BEACHAM, AP Sports Writer 5 hours, 42 minutes ago
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP)—Monta Ellis knew he was in trouble after he seriously injured his ankle in a mo-ped accident and then lied to the Golden State Warriors about it this summer.
The high-scoring guard probably never imagined that trouble would cost him about $3 million—and neither did his coach or the man who drafted him.
Warriors president Robert Rowell suspended Ellis for 30 games without pay Saturday for violating his lucrative new contract, a decision that apparently went against the wishes of top basketball executive Chris Mullin and coach Don Nelson.
Ellis, who agreed to a six-year deal worth $66 million in July, severely sprained his ankle in a low-speed crash in late August. The 22-year-old then compounded his mistake by telling the Warriors he hurt himself playing pickup ball in his native Mississippi, only coming clean about the accident several days later.
There’s no doubt Ellis violated Paragraph 12 of the NBA’s uniform player contract, which prohibits a player from engaging “in any activity that a reasonable person would recognize as involving or exposing the participant to a substantial risk of bodily injury,†including “driving or riding a motorcycle or mo-ped.â€