Pistons’ Isaiah Stewart punched Suns’ Drew Eubanks in the face in tunnel before game Wednesday, per report

Detroit Pistons big man Isaiah Stewart punched Phoenix Suns center Drew Eubanks in the back tunnels of the Footprint Center, where the Suns are set to host the Pistons Wednesday night, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania. It is not clear what sparked the incident, and police are involved, according to Charania. He also reports that they were “chest-to-chest” before Stewart took a swing that connected with Eubanks in the lip area. The NBA is expected to receive footage of the incident.

Suns beat writer Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic spoke to Eubanks after the incident. According to Eubanks, Stewart approached him as he was heading to the Suns’ locker room. They “had words,” and according to Eubanks, Stewart sucker punched him.

Fights in the NBA have became a rarity in modern times. They will occur on the court from time to time, and occasionally disputes on the court will escalate behind the scenes after the game. However, pre-game fights of this nature are nearly nonexistent. One notable incident occurred in 2000, when Charles Oakley, then playing for the Toronto Raptors, was suspended three games for punching Jeff McInnis of the Clippers at a morning shootaround. Otherwise, few such fights are known to have happened.

Stewart has been involved in one notable on-court fight. That came back in 2021, when he was suspended two games for an incident with LeBron James. James elbowed Stewart in the face while fighting for rebounding position during a free-throw, and Stewart escalated the situation by trying to chase after James after being separated. That is the only time he has been suspended in his career, and all of his other fines have come from technical fouls or ejections.

Stewart has not played since Jan. 28 due to an ankle injury, but the Pistons are currently on a lengthy Western Conference road trip and he has been traveling with the team. Eubanks was reportedly warming up after the incident. Nobody in the NBA wants fights like this to happen, so the league will likely discipline Stewart once it has a better picture of what actually happened.