MANILA, Philippines – It’s just the opening week of the 2018-2019 NBA season but things have already turned ugly between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Houston Rockets. 

A fight broke out among Los Angeles’ Rajon Rondo and Brandon Ingram and Houston’s Chris Paul midway through the 4th quarter of their game at the Staples Arena on Saturday, October 20 (Sunday, October 21, Manila time). 

Rondo and Paul exchanged punches with 4:13 minutes left in the final frame after what seemed to be intense trash talking while Ingram landed a punch on Paul as the involved players were about to be separated. 

Rondo in the back icing his hand after cleaning Chris Paul’s clock with this left. CP3 dotted up, and he deserved it for the finger in the facepic.twitter.com/ByOjkk6WRi

— Jason McIntyre (@jasonrmcintyre) October 21, 2018

The fight started after Paul put his fingers right on Rondo’s face. In retaliation, the Lakers guard clocked the Rockets star with a solid left hook. 

Players from both teams quickly came between the two until Ingram raced from halfcourt to deliver a punch on Paul. 

The 3 were all ejected. 

The Lakers and Rockets threw punches at Staples  pic.twitter.com/YKWRkqHnXF

— ESPN (@espn) October 21, 2018

Without Rondo and Ingram, the Lakers surrendered a 115-124 decision to remain winless after two games. The Rockets, meanwhile, notched their first win in two games. 

Aside from ejections, there could be more sanctions for the 3 players involved in the fight.

With the NBA’s Kiki VanDeWeghe on the scene at Staples, investigation into Rockets-Lakers fight is underway tonight and there is potential for suspensions as soon as Sunday, league source tells ESPN. Rockets play Clippers on a back-to-back.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 21, 2018

– Rappler.com