Jamal Murray avoids suspension for throwing heat pack and towel to floor

On Monday night, Jamal Murray was a guard for the Denver Nuggets threw a heat pack and a towel on the ground during a game between Denver and Minnesota.

Amazingly, Murray wasn’t kicked out at this point – or subsequently suspended.

Instead, the NBA fined Murray $100,000 for the incident.

The officers didn’t see it when it happened. Murray supposedly would have only received a technical foul and not a dismissal if they had seen it.

While basketball is obviously not our watchword, it sets a bizarre precedent that the NFL would never set.

Someone could easily be injured if they step on the objects, slip or fall. If that had happened, the punishment would probably have been even worse. This makes the discipline even more bizarre.

Why should it be based on the outcome? It’s the behavior that is the problem.

To our knowledge, no player or coach has ever thrown an object onto the field during an NFL game. (Fans have, specifically in Buffalo — specifically in relation to Tom Brady.) However, there have been similar incidents.

In 2013, Steelers coach was Mike Tomlin got too close to the action and deflected Ravens receiver Jacoby Jones during a kickoff return. Former Jets strength coach in 2010 Sal Alosi formed a phalanx on the edge of the white stripe and tripped over Dolphins cornerback Nolan Carroll while trying to cover a punt. (Also, former Steelers coach Bill Cowher almost pulled a Woody Hayes after a game-winning blocked field goal from the Jaguars in 1997.)

Tomlin was fined $100,000. Alosi was fined $25,000 and suspended. He eventually resigned.

Neither was on the field itself. As far as we can tell, there was only one time when a player who wasn’t in the game actually walked onto the gridiron from the sideline during a play.

From the 1993 obituary of former Bears guard Ray Bray: “The Bears were playing the Los Angeles Rams in 1951 and Mr. Bray was standing on the sideline when a Ram intercepted a Bears pass and headed toward the goal line.” Mr. Bray entered the field and attacked the opponent without anyone realizing that he was not one of the 11 Bears players on the field for the game.”

Any player who would do something like that in today’s NFL would not go unnoticed or go unpunished. And any player who actually throws something into the game during a move will also face strict discipline.

Many believe the punishment for Murray was too light. Although it wasn’t cheap, he didn’t lose any playing time. The deterrent effect is minimal; A future player who tends to give in to temptation or frustration might think that he will treat it like a speeding ticket. A very expensive one, but still.

Murray’s salary for the 2023-24 season is $33.8 million. The penalty is 0.2 percent of his salary.

Still, it would be wise for NFL players not to come up with similar ideas. The NFL would certainly do something far stricter.

Unless the owner does, of course. Just ask David Tepper about it Slap on the wrist (relative to his net worth), which he received for throwing a drink at a fan.