Lakers’ LeBron James swallows one-game suspension: ‘He wanted to play’

NEW YORK — It is commonly known as “the Mecca of basketball,” and LeBron James certain sees Madison Square Garden in that light. He has said many times: It’s one of his favorite places to play, and it’s his favorite part of traveling to New York.

For now, his disappointment can only be imagined.

James served his one-game suspension on Tuesday, not even able to sit on the Lakers’ bench after the NBA punished him for striking the Detroit Pistons’ Isaiah Stewart in the face during Sunday’s game. It was the first suspension of his 19-year career, costing him an estimated quarter-million dollars, and keeping him from taking the court in his favorite road venue.

The 36-year-old hasn’t publicly spoken since the incident on Sunday. When asked to gauge his star’s reaction to the suspension, Coach Frank Vogel was brief.

“He wanted to play,” he said. “I don’t really want to get into it more than that.”

The Lakers wanted James to play, too. He’s already missed 11 of the team’s 19 games so far this season, the previous 10 to injuries. Not only are the Lakers struggling to find consistency with their overhauled roster, but the game was also being aired on national TV as a tilt between the NBA’s two biggest markets.

The Lakers have stuck behind James, although Vogel stopped short of griping about the NBA’s decision.

“It’s unfortunate,” he said. “We all know that LeBron’s one of the classiest guys in the league and plays the game the right way at all times. The league has their decision to make. It’s really 100% out of our control so it doesn’t really matter what we think about it.”

That didn’t keep All-Star big man Anthony Davis from sharing his opinion. He said he was “surprised” by the suspension, and didn’t think James was going to get suspended from what he saw as “an accident” where James didn’t mean to hit Stewart in the face.

“I guess the report came out that his hit to the face caused an incident, which is weird because he can’t control how a guy’s gonna react,” he said. “I mean guys get hit in the face all the time, and we’re saying that caused the incident. I get hit in my face probably more than anyone, and if I go off and do all that, the other guy who hit me in the face is gonna get suspended as well? It was strange.”

The Lakers added that they believed they had enough pieces to win without James’ assistance on Tuesday night, though Davis said the presence of the four-time league MVP would have been “definitely helpful.”

The Lakers were hopeful that another one of their wings might play on Tuesday. Rookie Austin Reaves was upgraded to doubtful the day before the game, but by Tuesday morning he was downgraded to out. Vogel said it was “unlikely” that Reaves would come back for the last game of the five-game trip in Indianapolis.

“He’s getting closer,” Vogel said. “But we’ll see how he responds to today’s work, is really where it’s at.”