I remember a younger Bill Laimbeer getting in a beef with Detroit star Bob Lanier and sucker punching him once; Don’t remember any race blowback or much controversy at all over that?
Rick Mahorn and Laimbeer were kind of the thugs on the Pistons team for a while.
On the other hand, Kermit Washington got a LOT of blowback after clobbering Rudy Tomjanovich, and the Lakers traded him shortly after.
I was staying at a hotel where the Pistons were staying many years ago, and ended up on an elevator with Laimbeer. What a huge, scary looking dude. I’m not a small guy, but felt like a grasshopper in there.