In the eyes of the NBA, a flagrant foul 2 and ejection were enough discipline for Kings center DeMarcus Cousins.
Cousins was not suspended for Wednesday's game against the Chicago Bulls. He was thrown out of Sunday's loss to Milwaukee for landing an elbow to the back of Milwaukee forward Mike Dunleavy's head shortly after being called for a technical foul in the third quarter.
Kings coach Keith Smart received the news in a conversation with Stu Jackson, the NBA executive vice president of basketball operations.
"It wasn't anything that warranted a suspension or anything like that, so he's cleared," Smart said.
Cousins still missed Wednesday's game because of a left quadriceps contusion suffered in a collision with Dunleavy, who was trying to box him out. The maneuver preceded the technical foul, flagrant foul and ejection.
Cousins was listed as day-to-day. The Kings' next game is on the road Sunday against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Smart said he was "not shocked" that Cousins didn't receive his third suspension from the league.
"I didn't know," Smart said. "I just stayed neutral. In this case, it was just a very unusual storm because you actually had an injury there as well as the other situation. So the whole focal point was moving forward anyway because you knew he wasn't going to be playing in this game for sure."
Cousins has five flagrant foul points. His next flagrant foul would lead to an automatic one-game suspension. He also has 12 technical fouls, four from an automatic one-game suspension.
Smart wouldn't mind going the rest of the season without talking to Jackson.
The coach said he hasn't talked "with Stu this much since I was being recruited by Providence."
Changing lineups – With Cousins out, Patrick Patterson started at power forward and Jason Thompson moved to center.
It was Patterson's first start with the Kings after 38 starts with the Houston Rockets this season.
Thompson and Patterson joined Isaiah Thomas, Tyreke Evans and John Salmons for the 14th different starting lineup the Kings have used this season.
Still out – Forward James Johnson was excused for the second consecutive game for personal reasons.
Minus Johnson and Cousins, the Kings had 11 players available.
Follow The Bee's Jason Jones on Twitter @mr_jasonjones and read more about the team at www.sacbee.com/kings.
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