Brittney Griner Ejected After Near-Fight in Mercury-Sparks

The Phoenix Mercury (18-20) and Los Angeles Sparks (7-31) each have one regular season game remaining after their battle on Tuesday night. Heading to the WNBA playoffs, Phoenix is locked into the seventh seed. As for Los Angeles, they own the league's worst record.

While neither team has much on the line between now and the end of the regular season, that was not evident with how Tuesday's first half concluded. Following a free throw with 18.8 seconds remaining in the second quarter, Mercury center Brittney Griner and Sparks forward Rickea Jackson nearly fought on the court.

Both Griner and Jackson were ejected from the game.

This alteration has been going viral on social media, as it has tallied over 100,000 views in less than 25 minutes since being posted. Griner's night ended after 14 points in 14 minutes, while Jackson exited with eight points in 20 minutes.

It will be interesting to see the aftermath of this altercation, as the WNBA could take disciplinary action against the two players. While she could be facing a fine or suspension, Jackson received a nice hand from her home crowd.

The officiating crew was able to step in before this altercation escalated. Both players looked prepared to throw punches after initial contact was made, but the officials and security stopped that from happened.

Griner is in her 12th WNBA season and Jackson is a rookie.

The Mercury will play their regular season finale against the Seattle Storm on Thursday, and the Sparks will play their regular season finale against the Minnesota Lynx that same day.

The WNBA will have a decision to make on whether or not to discipline the two players beyond their ejection.

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