Reggie Bullock of the Detroit Pistons and Monta Ellis of the Indiana Pacers were both suspended by the NBA for the first five games of the 2017-18 NBA season on Friday.
Per Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today:
Pistons' Reggie Bullock and Pacers' Monta Ellis suspended five games for violating NBA's anti-drug policy.
— Jeff Zillgitt (@JeffZillgitt) June 16, 2017
These suspensions will both be without pay, and while Ellis is under contract with the Pacers this suspension throws a cloud over Bullock’s future with the Pistons. Bullock will become a restricted free agent on July 1st, and the team has already given no indication whether it plans to extend him a qualifying offer. If the Pistons don’t extend the $3.3 million qualifying offer, he becomes and unrestricted free agent and the organization has no claim on him.
Bullock isn’t doing himself any favors here after a 2016-17 season in which he couldn’t catch a break. He suffered from back spasms that caused him to miss the start of the regular season and missed more than two months in the middle of the season after tearing a meniscus and with few exceptions never really found himself in the rotation.
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While a lot of that can be chalked up to just bad luck, this suspension is less likely to earn him further goodwill with the Detroit Pistons organization.