Mar 3, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers power forward Blake Griffin (32) shoots over Oklahoma City Thunder power forward Serge Ibaka (9) during the second half at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

Serge Ibaka was fined $25,000 by the league office today for a low blow against Blake Griffin in Sunday’s game when the Los Angeles Clippers played the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Clippers were mounting a huge comeback against the Thunder and you could tell that the frustration was mounting between the two teams. Play started to get chippy and before you know it, Ibaka does this.

Surely, you would think that a suspension was coming from a blow like this. There wasn’t speculation before hand about whether or not he would be suspended. People were talking about how many games he should get for his actions. Needless to say, most people were shocked when it was discovered that Ibaka was only going to be fined $25,000 for his actions.

Many people on social networking sites like twitter and facebook are saying that if this was any other player aside from Ibaka, they would’ve been suspended by now. This may very well be true. With Ibaka’s saintly past around the league and his great reputation, its no surprise that the league didn’t come down on him very hard for this.

Some players took to twitter to express their displeasure with the punishment that Ibaka received. Namely, LeBron James and Matt Barnes. They both had some very interesting things to say. Take a look:

You can INTENTIONALLY grab or hit someone in the balls & not get suspended, but you push someone & get suspended. #ImConfused

— Matt Barnes (@Matt_Barnes22) March 5, 2013

RT @matt_barnes22: Let me or @mettaworldpeace do that & I guarantee its a 5game suspension.. I luv *how* there … tmi.me/MIfUZ

— Matt Barnes (@Matt_Barnes22) March 5, 2013

So if I would have back handed Ibaka, I would have been the only one to get suspended right??????????????????????????

— Matt Barnes (@Matt_Barnes22) March 5, 2013

So explain to me the difference? My teammate gets a 1 game suspension and 150k+ taking away from him for his groin altercation #strangetome

— LeBron James (@KingJames) March 5, 2013

Surely, what these guys are saying has some merit to it. I definitely believe it does. Does the league have a double standard? I won’t go that far. But I will say this–when you have a history things don’t seem to go your way. And that’s probably what benefited Ibaka in the end.

The NBA’s annual dunk-a-thon is a mere hours away and we figured we’d take a minute to breakdown those involved. Competing this year will be Blake Griffin of the Clippers, Serge Ibaka of the Thunder, JaVale McGee of the Wizards and DeMar DeRozan of the Raptors.

Blake Griffin is the hands down favorite to win it all. The author of a host of highlight dunks is ready to stake his claim as one of the all time greats.

One could argue that the NBA stacked the deck in Griffin’s favor but, we are above those sorts of acquisitions…well, kind of, but not really.

If you are like most fans in the NBA, you are wondering who the other three contestants are, here is a highlight reel breakdown of all involved:

Blake Griffin:

Serge Ibaka:

DeMar DeRozan:

JaVale McGee

Second year Toronto Raptor DeMar DeRozan has been picked to replace an injured Brandon Jennings in this year’s NBA Slam Dunk Contest.

DeRozan, who was the only player last year to post a perfect score of 50, finished second in last year’s contest to Nate Robinson and was a surprise omission when the contestants for this year were announced.

Blake Griffin finally has some competition as the field origianly looked to be stacked in his favor. The NBA hype machine will benefit from a Griffin victory, but the addition of DeRozan will force him to have to work a little bit harder for it.

Serge Ibaka, and JaVale McGee will also compete.

Here is a clip to get you up to speed on what DeMar DeRozan can do: