Warriors suspend Ellis for 30 games

Monta Ellis is a moron. Now he will pay for it. Literally and figuratively. After tearing his deltoid ligament in his left ankle over the summer in a moped accident and then lying to the team about it, the Golden State Warriors made a moron pay, suspending Ellis for 30 games without pay for violating his new 6 year, $66 million deal by riding a moped.

Paragraph 12 of the NBA’s uniform player contract prohibits players 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 moped.”

Why an NBA player has a moped or motorcycle with him to begin with, I don’t know. Your contract prohibits it, so why do you have one? And when you have at least $100 million in salary and endorsements in front of you, why do you ride one and risk getting killed? Look at Jay Williams. He played just 1 season in the NBA, and then he almost killed himself on a motorcycle and is now out of basketball for good, and he only got to make about $5 million.

Additionally, Ellis lied to the team at first. He said he hurt it playing pickup ball. You should have known better than that. A torn deltoid ligament and cuts and abrasions don’t happen while playing basketball. At least make up something plausible, like riding a bicycle.

The Warriors are going to count their 4 pre-season games in the suspension, so Ellis will be suspended for the first 26 games of the season, ending after their Dec. 17 game. It is unclear whether or not Ellis will be able to play by then anyways. If I was in charge, I would not have suspended Ellis, since he is going to probably be out until then anyways, but rather, I would not have paid him for each game he missed.