Dwight Howard, Michael Beasley Scuffle, Lance Stephenson Ejected for Throwing Punch on Video in BIG3

The BIG3 season got off to quite the start in Los Angeles on Saturday.

Miami 305 began its season with a forfeit loss to the LA Riot after a heated game that featured Dwight Howard and Michael Beasley getting into a scuffle, as well as Lance Stephenson committing a hard foul and then throwing a punch at Jordan Crawford.

BIG3 announced Stephenson and Beasley were ejected, which meant Miami 305 lost by forfeit 39-30 because the team was down to just two players.

It's safe to say this is not how Miami 305 wanted to start its title defense.

The team selected Stephenson with the No. 1 overall pick in last year's draft and then went on to win the championship with he and Beasley leading the way. This year's roster features Beasley, Stephenson, Mario Chalmers and Reggie Evans, which is notable NBA experience.

But LA has plenty of NBA experience as well with Howard, Crawford and Kosta Koufos, and there was no love lost between Howard and Beasley in the 2026 opener.

That is notable because they were teammates in the NBA on the 2015-16 Houston Rockets.

Houston reached the Western Conference playoffs that season but lost to the Golden State Warriors in five games in the first round.

Both Beasley and Howard are in the BIG3 and competing for titles in the three-on-three league at this stage of their respective careers, and Saturday was a high-profile opener for both players and teams given their overall basketball track records.

Things did not go as planned.