Point guard Darren Collison will miss the first eight games of the NBA season as he serves a suspension after pleading guilty to a domestic violence case from earlier in the year involving his wife.
Monday after practice, the day before the Kings open up their preseason against the Lakers, Collison spoke to the media and accepted the suspension as the consequence of his actions, and how he wants to move forward. Here is what Collison said, as reported by James Ham of CSNBayArea.com.“I accept the penalty and now it’s time to move forward, try and focus on the future and do whatever it takes to help my teammates win,” Collison told media members on Monday...
“It was out of my control,” Collison said of the suspension. “Right now it’s just about putting it behind me, you know what I mean. Focusing on my family. Focusing on the team and going from there....
“I know my situation, I know exactly what happened,” Collison said. “From here, you’ve just got to move forward and accept it and just go from there.”
While Collison answered questions, DeMarcus Cousins stood by, then when Collison was finished Cousins came in to support his point guard.
The Kings will have Ty Lawson and Jordan Farmar handling the point guard duties through the start of the season — and the Kings have a tough schedule up front (six of the eight games are on the road).
The goal in Sacramento is to get through that difficult stretch, count on a bounce from opening their new building, grow comfortable with new coach Dave Joerger’s system, and turn that into a playoff berth. We’ll see if it gets that far, but the eight-game suspension could have been far more, which would have been a significant setback for the Kings.