I won’t/can’t argue if it was deliberate or not. He was acting as a dangerous “Thug”.
He should be out of the NBA, but I’ve heard several commentators say that the commissioner won’t do it because of the Player’s Union - they would not allow that to stand.
If I were a player (no chance in $%#&), would I want to play against (or with for that matter) a Thug like that?
Stern won’t do it because he’s a sissy. If the PA objected he could just tell them to go explain it to Harden who’s still out with the concussion he got.
As a football fan I always have to scoff at the “discipline” of other leagues. In the NFL there are 5 suspensions you’ll generally see: 1 game (remember they have a 16 game season), 2 games, 1/4 season, half season, and whole season. If you work the math an NBA game in a normals season is 1/5 as much of the season as an NFL game, yet NBA players usually get suspended for 2 to 4 games, not even 1 NFL games equivalent. This 7 games for Artest is about a game and a half. A post whistle shot like that in the NFL is a 4 gamer minimum, 1/4 of the season. At least the NHL finally got one right when they suspended Raffi Torres for 25 games (functionally the rest of the playoffs even if the Yotes go all the way to the Cup). And don’t even get me started on MLB where pitchers get “suspended” for fewer games than the rotation.
Ya know, I would definitely want to play against him. A few hip checks, and maybe a “blocking” foul when he is in the air might change his perspective.