Spectrum Center bench-clearing brawl (Duren–Diabaté–Bridges–Stewart)

The game between the Detroit Pistons and Charlotte Hornets at the Spectrum Center on Feb. 9, 2026 is in the third quarter when contact on the interior leads to confrontation. With the Hornets leading the game earlier in the night and seeking a tenth straight win, Moussa Diabaté and Jalen Duren have a physical exchange after a foul call; video and play-by-play show Duren striking Diabaté with an open right hand after the contact, and Diabaté responding with a punch [2][3]. Miles Bridges then charges into the scrum and throws a punch at Duren, and Isaiah Stewart leaves the Pistons' bench area and runs onto the court, engaging Bridges with a headlock and striking him before security separates the players [2][3][1]. The sequence prompts immediate ejections for Duren, Diabaté, Bridges and Stewart; reports note a brief security/police presence near the floor entrance as the melee escalated and as Stewart ran toward the tunnel area [3]. The contest concludes with Detroit defeating Charlotte 110–104, ending the Hornets' nine-game run, but postgame coverage centers on the brawl, ejections and the disciplinary implications the league would later announce [2][11]. Local and national outlets produced play-by-play recaps and footage-based descriptions of the incident, and Hornets personnel later addressed the trigger and consequences in media statements and social posts [2][3][12].

The Feb. 9 melee is a defining flashpoint in the modern Pistons–Hornets interactions because it transformed routine regular-season meetings into a nationally discussed rivalry moment: the fight produced multi-game suspensions, involved players with prior disciplinary histories, and interrupted a Hornets winning streak that had traction in Charlotte media coverage [1][10][11]. It exposed tensions around on-court retaliation and bench involvement—especially given Isaiah Stewart's prior incidents—which the NBA explicitly referenced when issuing later punishments [1][8]. For fans and teams it created heightened stakes for subsequent meetings and focused attention on individual player conduct in a matchup that previously lacked sustained playoff or postseason rivalry history [11][1].

Immediate consequences included ejections from the game and an NBA review that led to suspensions two days later: Stewart, Bridges, Diabaté and Duren all received multi-game bans announced on Feb. 11, 2026 [1]. Players and coaches addressed the media in the nights after: Hornets players posted apologies and explanations on social platforms and Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff publicly defended teammate actions as protective responses [3][12]. The incident resulted in missing games for key rotation players and shifted national coverage from on-court results to disciplinary enforcement; the league cited Stewart's prior record when assigning the longest ban, establishing precedent for how past conduct influenced sanctions in this rivalry context [1][8]. The melee remains a reference point in postgame previews whenever the teams meet in the same season [1][11].