Ben Simmons has found himself involved in a brawl between his Philadelphia 76ers teammate Joel Embiid and Karl-Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The flash-point between two of the best young centres in the NBA took place with 6:42 remaining in the third quarter, with the 76ers ahead 75-55 in Philadelphia.
"Well first of all, I ain't no bitch," Embiid said of the incident after the game, echoing a quote from teammate Mike Scott after last season's playoff exit.
Embiid and Towns — whose nickname is KAT — unintentionally linked arms after Towns was double-teamed by Embiid and Simmons, before the two All Stars started grappling and ended up on the floor.
From that point, chaos ensued as the pair were joined by a myriad of suit-clad officials on the court as the benches cleared in an effort to separate the players.
Embiid was shooed away from the altercation by Jeff Teague, before shadow-boxing and appearing to celebrate with teammate Mike Scott.
Meanwhile, Simmons landed on top of Towns — with whom he is friends — and appeared to restrain him with a choke-hold more familiar in MMA octagons than on NBA courts.
That move earned plaudits on social media, with former NFL player Emmanuel Acho writing, "Ben Simmons real as hell! I want him on my team in a dark alley! He choked the mess out of KAT."
Simmons escaped on-court sanction for his enthusiastic restraining of the 213cm-tall Towns, but the 23-year-old Dominican-American star was not so lucky.
Both he and Embiid were ejected from the game and led through separate tunnels to their respective locker rooms.
Embiid though, did not go quietly, pumping the crowd up as he was lead from the court.
"Going into this season I kinda said I was gonna stay away from all that, but things happen," Embiid said.
"I was built for this city and they was built for me.
"That's what the city of Philadelphia is about. You gotta come in here, you gotta fight. You gotta play hard. You gotta be gritty. You gotta be a Broad Street Bully. That's what it's about."
Prior to the match, much had been made of the individual battle between the two big-men, but despite playing down the contest pre-match, it appears the hype got to both players.
Philadelphia ran out 117-95 winners, with Embiid leading the scoring with 19 despite being ejected.
Simmons scored 16 points with 3 rebounds and 7 assists, but there was still no sign of an elusive three point attempt.
