Bam Adebayo punching Tyler Herro at the 2026 Las Vegas Summer League was the kind of headline that stops people cold. It also dropped into a very small and ugly corner of NBA history.
Teammate-on-teammate violence doesn’t happen often, and when it does, it usually leaves a mess behind. Over the last 15 years, there have only been three other high-profile incidents that fit that bill, and each one came with its own fallout.
The most recent example came in 2022 with the Golden State Warriors, when TMZ leaked video of Draymond Green punching Jordan Poole at practice after trash talk spiraled. Poole reportedly called Green a backpack that Steph Curry has to carry and also allegedly made comments about getting a bigger contract extension than Green. The punch landed just a few months after the Warriors won the NBA title, and the damage lingered all season.
Golden State had to deal with the aftermath through the 2022-23 campaign, then went out in the 2023 Playoffs in the second round with Poole looking far from his best. He was later salary-dumped to the Wizards in 2023, then traded to the Pelicans, where he is now. Green is currently a free agent but widely expected to return and continue his illustrious career with the franchise.
The most severe case on the list may have come in Chicago before the Bulls’ 2017 season opener, when Bobby Portis Jr. and Nikola Mirotic got into it during practice over trash talk. Portis, who is now teammates with Adebayo on the Heat, reportedly reacted after Mirotic tried to charge at him, and the punch left Mirotic sidelined for four to six weeks.
Portis was suspended for eight games. Mirotic suffered fractures to his upper jaw/facial area and a concussion.
The two were battling for the starting power forward job, and Mirotic was expected to win it before the fight changed everything. He waived his no-trade clause and pushed for an exit, eventually getting traded to the Pelicans.
The episode also opened the door for Lauri Markkanen in Chicago.
Portis took a hit to his reputation that didn’t really start to heal until his time with the Milwaukee Bucks, where he carved out a role as a minimum player, earned an extension, and won a championship. Mirotic left the NBA in 2019 and became a star in Europe, where he still plays.
Go back another 15 years and you get a different kind of blowup in Memphis. Tony Allen and O.J.
Mayo’s fight in January 2011 may have been the last NBA teammate clash sparked by one player owing another money over gambling. Allen was one of the best defenders of his era, while Mayo was still a young player trying to find his ceiling when things went sideways.
Mayo reportedly owed Allen somewhere between $1,000 and $7,000 in unpaid Bourré debts, and the tension boiled over after Mayo was trash-talking him on the practice court. Allen snapped, punched Mayo, and added more blows to Mayo’s eye, mouth, shoulder, and head. The Grizzlies responded by banning gambling on team flights, but neither player was suspended.
Unlike the other two incidents, this one didn’t split the team apart. Mayo and Allen worked through it and became important pieces of Memphis’ run to a shocking first-round upset of the No. 1-seeded San Antonio Spurs, eventually becoming part of the franchise’s ‘Grit and Grind’ identity.
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Warriors Just Made A Behind The Scenes Move LeBron Fans Will Notice
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Vogels most notable recent stop came with the Lakers, where he coached LeBron James and helped deliver a title, so the hire is bound to catch the attention of anyone tracking the long-running LeBron-to-Golden State chatter. Warriors players have already been openly involved in recruiting James, and while no signing has happened, the addition of Vogel gives the franchise another layer of familiarity around a storyline that refuses to go away. [Read more 🡒]
Udonis Haslem Got Pulled Into Another Heat Culture Firestorm
A social media dispute involving former Heat teammates Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo has a way of spilling beyond South Florida, and this one quickly drew in a familiar voice from the Warriors side. The flare-up started with direct messages between Herro and a fan, then widened into a back-and-forth that got plenty of attention once Draymond Green weighed in on it.
Greens comments brought Udonis Haslem into the conversation, with the former Heat captain once again positioned as the defender of Miamis standard and identity. Haslem answered on social media and stood up for Heat culture, keeping the issue alive even as the original exchange remained the kind of online dust-up that can linger long after the posts themselves. [Read more 🡒]