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Omri Casspi was reportedly involved in a physical altercation with Memphis Grizzlies teammate Garrett Temple after the team’s 101-94 loss Wednesday night, according to The Athletic‘s Shams Charania.
The Memphis Grizzlies' emotional team meeting after loss to Detroit tonight turned physical in an altercation between veterans Garrett Temple and Omri Casspi in locker room, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @WatchStadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 3, 2019
According to Charania, the Grizzlies gathered for a postgame meeting after their eighth loss in 10 games and confronted a supposed lack of effort. Then the conversation shifted to the bench play. Casspi, Charania says, “became vocal in his defense.” He and Temple, a 10-year NBA veteran and vice president of the player union’s executive committee, had to be separated.
“A conversation that needed to be had that will stay between those of us that were in that locker room,” Memphis coach J.B. Bickerstaff said postgame.
Casspi played for the Warriors last year before he was released prior to the 2018 playoffs to make room for point guard Quinn Cook. Casspi averaged 5.7 points and 3.8 rebounds on 58 percent shooting and 45.5 percent from three-point range in his lone season with the Warriors. He later received a championship ring after the team won its second straight NBA title and third in four years.
Casspi, now on his eighth NBA team in 10 years, is averaging 5.3 points and three rebounds on 54 percent shooting in his first season with Memphis.