A regular night out in Washington D.C. turned into a street brawl for Washington Wizards two-way forward Devin Robinson and Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Jalen Mills. Details of the altercation began to emerge after the Wizards released a succinct statement regarding the incident:
“We are aware of the incident this morning involving Devin and are disappointed in his actions. We will not extent him a qualifying offer for the 2019-20 season.”
The fact that the Wizards took such quick action against Robinson implies a couple of things: Washington is heading into a new era, and they want to send a message that this behavior won’t be tolerated. Also, they more than likely already had their mind made up that Robinson wasn’t going to get an offer in the 2019-20 season so his actions just expedited his exit.
If this same situation occurred with John Wall or Bradley Beal, Washington would have responded differently. However, with Robinson being on a two-way contract and back-and-forth between the Wizards and Capital City Go-Go, the team’s decision was an easy choice and it also sets the tone for how they want to move forward.
The Wizards statement was the first sign that Robinson had been involved in an incident that resulted in his arrest. According to the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, Robinson and Mills engaged in a verbal dispute outside of Opera Ultra Lounge around 3 a.m. that escalated into a physical altercation on the sidewalk outside the club.
Mills and Robinson were detained overnight in the second district police department. Robinson was also taken to the hospital to receive treatment for his injuries prior to spending the night in jail. There is additional speculation that the altercation started because Robinson felt Mills shouldn’t be in D.C. since he doesn’t play for a Washington team.
Oddly enough both Mills and Robinson are recovering from injuries that limited their playing time this season. Mills missed most of the 2018 season with a foot injury and Robinson missed the last two months of the season dealing with a hip injury.
Robinson started seeing some minutes after the Wizards playoff hopes came to an end. After his April 5th performance against the San Antonio Spurs, Coach Scott Brooks said the following: “He [Devin] has good moments, and he has moments that he’s going to have to lock in. It’s experience. He’s athletic in transition but he has to show that type of athleticism in half court set when the majority of the game is going to be that way. But it’s good minutes for him, it’s a good opportunity to see what he’s done. He hasn’t played a lot of minutes because he’s been out for nearly two months. I’m sure conditioning was a little bit of a factor as well.”
Earlier this season, he made waves when his alley-oop dunk during a Capital City Go-Go game made it onto SportsCenter’s Top 10.
OH MY, DEVIN ROBINSON ? #SCtop10 pic.twitter.com/wqv1WTcrgP
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 5, 2019
Robinson played in seven games for the Wizards where he averaged 6.7 points per game. Without a qualifying offer from Washington, he is now an unrestricted free agent and has to hope another NBA team will see his potential.