Top 100 moments of the 2018-19 NBA season, Part 2

26. Rajon Rondo/Brandon Ingram/Chris Paul fight and ejections

LeBron James’ Staples Center debut with the Los Angeles Lakers was one of the most highly anticipated regular season games the NBA had seen in quite a while, but it turned into a much uglier affair after Brandon Ingram uncharacteristically lost his cool and ignited a full-on brawl.

The game was a chippy contest before things escalated to their breaking point, with a flagrant 1 foul from James Ennis III on Josh Hart flaring tempers and Chris Paul flexing on Rajon Rondo only making matters worse.

However, after Ingram was whistled for a foul on James Harden that should’ve been an and-1, the young Lakers cornerstone acted the part of punk, shoving the reigning MVP in the back unprovoked. While he was being separated from the pack, Rondo and CP3 met face-to-face and had a few words. Or, in the case of Paul’s face, some spittle.

That prompted Paul to poke Rondo in the face with his finger, pushing him away. Rondo retaliated with a punch to the face and swung another time before CP3 connected on a punch of his own.

At that point, Ingram came flying in again throwing blind punches, while LeBron James, P.J. Tucker, Carmelo Anthony and the tiny officiating crew tried to separate everyone.

https://twitter.com/espn/status/1053874632787484673

Rondo’s party tried to argue it was his mouthpiece that was responsible for “Spitgate,” but nobody intelligent — including the league — bought it. The close-up clearly shows Rondo looking dead at Paul before letting the saliva fly. He knew what he was doing.

The punishments were surprisingly lenient on the Lakers’ end, with Ingram only earning four games and Rondo earning three. Paul also served a two-game suspension. While this wasn’t a good look for the league overall, there’s no question it spiced things up quite a bit.