Jrue Holiday defends Grayson Allen despite dirty foul on Alex Caruso

Years ago, people lauded Grayson Allen for his heroics in the NCAA Tourney and thought he’d be an NBA star once his time came. Now, he’s one of the most despised players around the basketball world, and for very good reasons.

Allen was suspended during his time at Duke for one of his many dirty fouls. He’s got a long history of tripping and purposely trying to hurt his rivals, throwing temper tantrums on the bench when he’s ejected for it.

He’s not the kind of player who deserves the benefit of the doubt, and his poor judgment was again at a full display when he committed a dirty foul on Alex Caruso, forcing the Bulls‘ guard to miss 6-8 weeks with a wrist injury.

Jrue Holiday Defends Grayson Allen Despite Dirty Play History

But even despite his long and well-documented history with dirty plays, tough fouls, and deliberately trying to hurt other people, Bucks’ guard Jrue Holiday still says he’s not a dirty player:

“We’re always going to be a team, we’re going to be brothers,” Holiday told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Grayson, we know Grayson. He’s not that type of player. He didn’t do it maliciously and he didn’t want to see Caruso get hurt. I feel like those are the type of guys we recruit and we love playing with. Grayson didn’t do it on purpose. We know that and he knows that, so he knows that we have his back.”

Milwaukee Bucks Also Stand By Allen

The Bucks also showed a malicious lack of character right after the game. The very next day, they shared a gif of Allen eating a donut, pretty much condoning, supporting, and even making fun of what he did to another NBA player.

The NBA suspended Allen for just one game.as if another slap on his wrist would do any difference. The Bucks deleted the Tweet but embarrassed themselves again by releasing a statement disagreeing with the suspension:

“We disagree with the suspension. We support Grayson and look forward to him rejoining our team for Friday’s game vs. New York,” the statement read, not even making mention of Caruso’s injury or wishing him a speedy recovery.

Billy Donovan Rips Allen’s Dirty Play

Needless to say, Allen became public enemy number 1 in Chicago, and we’re not just talking about the fans. Even coach Billy Donovan had a lot to say about his dirty foul and how he has a history of pulling off those every now and then:

“For Alex to be in the air and for [Allen] to take him down like that, he could’ve ended his career,” Donovan told ESPN.“He has a history of this. That to me was really — it was really dangerous. I hope the league takes a hard look at something like that because that could have really, really seriously hurt him.”

“I know this is a physical game and there’s plays at the basket and there’s a lot of contact,” the coach added, “but there’s a right way you can go up and have physicality when you do that. Not that way in my opinion.”

Allen didn’t even reach out to Caruso after his hard fall. He was later spotted on the bench getting a laugh out of it as he always does. There’s no place in the league for a guy like him, and you better believe the United Center will let him have it come March 4 when the Bucks visit the Bulls.