NBA | Warriors' Monta Ellis will lose 30 games' salary

OAKLAND, Calif. — The Golden State Warriors suspended injured guard Monta Ellis for 30 games without pay Saturday for violating his lucrative new contract by getting into a mo-ped wreck.

Ellis, who agreed to a six-year deal worth $66 million in July, severely sprained his ankle in a low-speed crash in late August. The suspension will cost him slightly less than $3 million.

The Warriors counted four exhibition games in the suspension's length, which means Ellis can't return to the team until after Golden State's 26th regular-season game, against Indiana on Dec. 17.

Ellis, who recently underwent surgery to repair a torn ligament, was unlikely to return before that time, but the suspension means he won't be paid during his absence. Ellis' agent, Jeff Fried, met with Golden State officials last week to settle his client's punishment.

Ellis, 22, compounded his mistake by initially lying to the Warriors about the crash. He told Chris Mullin, the Warriors' top basketball executive, he hurt himself playing pickup ball in Mississippi, but came clean about the incident several days later.

Ellis will be allowed to spend time at the Warriors' training complex for rehabilitation during his suspension, but team president Robert Rowell is taking a risk of possibly alienating the player expected to be the centerpiece of coach Don Nelson's fast-paced offense after Baron Davis' defection to the Los Angeles Clippers.

Ellis was the second-leading scorer for the league's highest-scoring team last season, averaging 20.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.9 assists.

Notes

• Host Golden State won 122-102 over the Oklahoma City Thunder — the team that was the Sonics before moving from Seattle — in an exhibition game.

Marco Belinelli had 22 points for the Warriors.

Damien Wilkins scored 23 points for the Thunder (0-3) and Kevin Durant collected 16 points and 14 rebounds.

• Denver beat Phoenix 77-72 in an outdoor exhibition before 16,236 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California. Wind was a factor and the teams combined to shoot 3 for 27 from three-point range.

Phoenix guard Steve Nash, who scored a game-high 16 points, said, "If you shoot a ball and it starts slicing right, well ... But that's not really the point of the game, to shoot a high percentage. The point was to come out here and see what it is like to go up and down outside and put NBA players in this situation."

J.R. Smith and ex-Sonic Mateen Cleaves led the Nuggets with 12 points each.

• The NBA and AEG will announce today plans to design and operate at least a dozen arenas in China, extending the league's presence in its largest foreign market, The New York Times reported. The arenas could form the infrastructure of an NBA-branded league in China.

Under their plan, the league and AEG will make modest cash investments in the arenas, but their expertise will give them substantial ownership stakes in the buildings. The arenas are to be financed largely by local and provincial governments.

Commissioner David Stern said the league is looking to capitalize on a growing urban Chinese middle class with increasing income.

• Miami Heat center Jamaal Magloire, 30, will miss at least six weeks with a broken left hand, and could be sidelined longer if surgery is required to repair the fracture.

Magloire was injured in an exhibition game Thursday in Paris.