Why don't guys fight anymore?

[Big J]

In the 80's & 90's there were tons of on court fights. What happened? Are guys just too soft nowadays? Could you imagine Twitter if guys still fought. Hell, the Embiid KAT air boxing fight a few years back was huge and nothing really happened. Would it behoove the NBA to encourage guys to brawl a bit for entertainment purposes?

[Joerezz7]

Yes it would definitely boost the rating. Game needs to go back to being more physical in general.

[LivingLegend]

I mean its allowed in the NHL.....but no, the NBA doesnt need figting because the players egos are too big and none of them want to have their 'brand' tainted by getting hit in the face by another NBA player.

[Statlanta]

The NBA is stricter on penalizing conduct for their brand towards general audiences and the league as a whole is a brotherhood, particularly among the American players with the AAU system.

[GYK]

Bruh if you don’t realize the slander they would receive. The new cycle would absolutely destroy them. There’s no way they could fight. We still talk about the Malice in the Palace. NFL can’t even fight and they are walking car crashes. This is complaining for complaining sakes. Lol the amount of thugs and hoodlums they would be called.

[Karate Diop]

Make love not war bro.

[trickshot]

Stuff like this is why men today constantly have to deal with stupid accusations of toxic masculinity. Imagine thinking less fights is a matter of being soft or tough or that they were ever good for the game

[Lakers LeBron]

A combination of the league cracking down after the malice in the palace and players making too much money to risk injury or suspension. No one wants to break their hand throwing a punch like Kareem did in 77

[ishoy123]

The NBA cracked down hard on the thug image under David Stern, the penalties for fighting are too harsh now.

[DonaldSanders]

The fines and suspensions (which also means losing game checks) are huge now. Miss 1 game due to suspension on a 10million salary and it's over 120K during an 82 game season! If the fight was 80s style now I could easily see some guys losing half a million.

Players sometimes used to fight and stay in the game, lol.

[Calvin Klein]

because it's completely stupid.

[Big J]

because it's completely stupid.

Might be stupid, but it would absolutely get huge ratings. You're lyin if you're telling me you wouldn't watch a fight highlight between Durant & Westbrook.

[zeebneeb]

Because the level of competitive spirit in the league is very low. Any kind of emotion has been officiated out of the game as well.

[Duke4life831]

Multiple reasons

1. They dont get paid to fight
2. They suck at fighting
3. The NBA has cracked down on fighting. Why get fined and suspended for it
4. Either than a few instances, the NBA has always been the top tier league of "hold me back" fighting

[kobe_vs_jordan]

Players ain’t fools. Push and get paid for being ejected or fight and miss bout 10 game checks.

[Jordan Stopper]

They fought in those times to compensate for a lack of skill.
The saying was...
If you can't beat em, then beat em (up)!

[Ice Trae]

nba players probably throw punches with their thumb tucked inside their fist

[draftnightsuit]

The majority of “fights” from the ‘80s and ‘90s were just guys swinging wildly and never connecting. Like Larry Johnson vs. Alonzo Mourning which was just a glorified shadowboxing contest.

Basketball can’t fight so who cares?

[JimmyPlopper]

I would enjoy the game a lot more but the problem is that most fans are soft

[Anti Chalmers]

Players would be stupid as **** to fight and get suspended without pay.