On Wednesday afternoon, the NBA announced that it had suspended Sacramento King big man DeMarcus Cousins for one game for striking Dallas Mavericks guard O.J. Mayo in the groin on Monday night. Our Dan Devine covered the incident , which turned into an entirely different kind of story after Mayo said that Cousins has "mental problems." Cousins fired back today by questioning Mayo's own history, but (for now) Cousins looks like the losing party here. In isolation, the suspension makes sense. Even if Cousins hit Mayo unintentionally, as he claims, the fact is that he made a dangerous move. Plus, intent can be difficult to ascribe to a non-basketball action. Whether intentionally or not, he hit Mayo in the groin. That's bad, and it usually earns a suspension, particularly for a player of Cousins' less-than-stellar reputation. The problem with this suspension is that the severity makes little sense in the context of other NBA decisions, particularly in the case of Cousins. Roughly a month ago , Cousins was suspended two games for confronting and instigating an "animated conversation" with San Antonio Spurs TV commentator (and former player) Sean Elliott. If we take the suspensions at face value, then the Mayo punch was believed to have been less severe than an argument that resulted in no physical violence or much negative attention beyond the suspension itself. The league's rationale for the difference in severity is opaque and confusing.
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