Hornets' Taylor gets 24-game ban

Nov 19, 2014 - 11:05 PM New York, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Charlotte Hornets forward Jeff Taylor was suspended 24 games by the NBA on Wednesday after pleading guilty last month to a domestic violence charge in Michigan.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a three-page statement outlining the decision that the league is "committed to vigilance with respect to domestic violence."

The suspension comes on the heels of increased awareness of domestic-violence issues across sports, sparked by the Ray Rice case in the NFL.

Taylor has already served 11 games of the suspension and will not be eligible to return until Charlotte's Dec. 17 game against Phoenix.

He pleaded guilty on Oct. 29 to misdemeanor domestic violence assault and malicious destruction of hotel property over an altercation with a woman at an East Lansing hotel on Sept. 25, after which Taylor was arrested.

Taylor was sentenced to 18 months of probation -- including 26 weeks in a domestic violence intervention program and outpatient alcohol treatment -- and 80 hours of community service. The domestic violence charge will be dropped if he completes the conditions of his probation.

A charge of assault on a hotel security officer was later dropped.

An NBA investigation into the incident found that Taylor and the woman, with whom he was in a romantic relationship, had a loud argument in the hotel room that escalated into Taylor "shoving the woman in a violent manner into the hotel hallway so that she fell to the ground and struck her head on the opposite door, slapping her arm, and punching a hole in a wall near his hotel room."

The investigation found that Taylor, 25, was "belligerent and uncooperative" with the arresting police officers.

Silver said the suspension was "necessary to protect the interests of the NBA and the public's confidence in it.

"Mr. Taylor's conduct violates applicable law and, in my opinion, does not conform to standards of morality and is prejudicial and detrimental to the NBA," Silver said. "While the suspension is significantly longer than prior suspensions for incidents of domestic violence by NBA players, it is appropriate in light of Mr. Taylor's conduct, the need to deter similar conduct going forward, and the evolving social consensus -- with which we fully concur -- that professional sports leagues like the NBA must respond to such incidents in a more rigorous way."

Silver said in addition to fulfilling his court-mandated probation, Taylor must also attend individual sessions with a counselor selected by the NBA and players union.

Taylor averaged 6.6 points and 2.0 rebounds over 103 games in his first two NBA seasons. He missed much of last season after suffering a ruptured right Achilles tendon in December.