Anytime an athlete gets suspended, it can affect his or her team negatively. But when that player happens to be a star who's irreplaceable, that makes it even more difficult for a franchise to swallow.
Whether it was a one-, two-, multiple-game or season-long punishment, here are the sports suspensions that made the most dramatic impact on the games.
Draymond Green - 2016 NBA Finals, Game 5
It was one of the most boneheaded and hotly debated suspensions in recent NBA playoff history when the Golden State Warriors' All-Star Draymond Green lost his cool at the end of a Game 4 victory in this year's NBA Finals.
After being baited by LeBron James—who stepped over Green to try to get back on defense—Green lost his cool and hit the four-time league MVP below the belt.
While plenty of people wondered if Green would see additional punishment—the Cavs' front office allegedly pushed the league hard to suspend Green for two games, according to ESPN's Zach Lowe—the Warriors got word they would be without their third star for Game 5, which changed the entire course of the Finals as the Cavs won 112-97.
Tom Brady - 2016 NFL Season, First Four Games
Yep, it's the summer of 2016 and we're still talking about Deflategate. I know, it's hard to believe, right?
Happening back during AFC Championship Game in January 2015, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots have been fighting the NFL on their ruling of the quarterback's four-game suspension at some point for his role in the incident.
After some back-and-forth for years, a Second Circuit court upheld Brady's four-game suspension, which, unless overturned in an appeal, will take place at the start of this next season.
With Brady fighting that recent decision, there's no telling if or when he'll actually be forced to sit out. If he does, though, it'll be interesting to see how it impacts his team.
Patrick Ewing, Allan Houston, Larry Johnson and John Starks - 1997 NBA Playoffs, Games 6 and 7
This is one that plenty of New York Knicks fans are still griping about. During the 1997 NBA Playoffs, the NBA came down hard on the team's most talented players by enforcing the strongest penalty ever during a playoff series by suspending Patrick Ewing, Allan Houston, Larry Johnson and John Starks.
With New York leading its series against the Miami Heat 3-1, the four Knicks players got involved in a fight near the end of a Game 5 loss as they came to the aid of teammate Charlie Ward who was flipped over by the Heat's P.J. Brown.
For leaving the bench area, the NBA suspended the New York players for the final two games, which, not so ironically, Miami won as the team came back to take the series in seven games.
Brooks Orpik - 2016 NHL Playoffs, Games 3, 4 and 5
The Washington Capitals earned themselves the Presidents' Trophy for finishing with the most points in the NHL's regular season this year, but they lost a key player during their playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins that left them stunned.
Defenseman Brooks Orpik, who received a two-minute minor for interference in Game 2 for a hit on the Pens' Olli Maatta, later received a three-game suspension by the league, which affected the series.
As an alternate captain for the Caps, Orpik didn't score a ton, but he was an integral part of Washington's defense, known for his big hits while matched up against an opposing team's best offensive player.
Washington tried its best to win without him, but the series went in the favor of the Pens, who won it in six games.
Zach Randolph - 2014 NBA Playoffs, Game 7
Another suspension that occurred during an NBA playoff series to a critical player took place when Memphis Grizzlies big man Zach Randolph had to sit out of Game 7 during a matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2014. It proved to be a major blow to Memphis.
The team's leader in both points and rebounds that postseason, Z Bo connected on a punch on OKC's Steven Adams, which resulted in Randolph missing the final game of the series.
With their leader forced to the bench, the Grizzlies couldn't will their way to victory, losing the series to the Thunder.
Sean Payton - 2012 NFL Season
This is one many fans may not think of in terms of impact on the field, but make no mistake, without their head coach Sean Payton on the sidelines, the New Orleans Saints just weren't the same team.
Following the NFL determining the Saints held bounties for big hits and injuring opposing players, Payton was one of the fall guys and received a one-year suspension that saw him sit out all of 2012.
While New Orleans still put up the third-most points in the league without the offensive minded Payton, the morale of the entire team wasn't quite right, as the defense surrendered the second-most points that year.
Lacking leadership from a head coach with a Super Bowl ring, the Saints went from 13-3 in 2011 to just 7-9 without Payton.
Ryan Braun - Final 65 Games, 2013 MLB Season
Once the rumors came out that Milwaukee Brewers All-Star and 2011 NL MVP Ryan Braun had allegedly used performance-enhancing drugs, the guy harped about how he was innocent and that he did nothing wrong.
Oh Ryan, Ryan, Ryan, didn't you know the truth would eventually come out?
Apparently not, because Braun later changed his stance and admitted to using banned substances during his MVP season, ultimately leading to a 65-game suspension by the MLB that cost him and his team during the 2013 season.
While the Brewers sat just 41-58 on the day that Braun's suspension was announced—July 23, 2013—the impact has been felt in the years since, as the outfielder hasn't been the same player he was before the punishment.
Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw - 2007 NBA Playoffs, Game 5
Of all the hotly debated suspensions in NBA playoff history, there hasn't been one more controversial than the one that occurred during a 2007 series between the Phoenix Suns and San Antonio Spurs.
After Phoenix's two-time league MVP Steve Nash fell to the ground on a hip-check from the Spurs' Robert Horry in the final minutes of Game 4 with the series about to be tied at two games apiece, Nash's teammates, Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw, came to defend him.
Bad idea.
Like the aforementioned New York Knicks players, for leaving the bench area, the league suspended both Stoudemire and Diaw for Game 5—which ended up being the turning point in the tight series.
While Horry received a two-game suspension for his role in the fracas, the Suns lost two players who helped defend Tim Duncan, which they just couldn't do without the big men in Game 5, as Duncan put up 21 points, 12 rebounds and 5 blocks.
Alex Rodriguez - 2014 MLB Season
Reduced to just 44 games during the 2013 season because of injury, the New York Yankees were accustomed to life without Alex Rodriguez. But they couldn't have believed that the three-time league MVP wouldn't be an option during the 2014 campaign because of a year-long suspension.
That's what the Yanks had to deal with, though, as A-Rod was found guilty of obtaining illegal PEDs from a defunct Biogenesis clinic.
Although Rodriguez wasn't the same 30-homer, 100-RBI guy he was years earlier, New York had a difficult time finding production at both third base and the DH spot, missing the playoffs in his absence.
Rodriguez returned to put up solid numbers in 2015 as the Yanks played in the AL Wild Card Game, losing at home to the Houston Astros.
Ron Artest - 86 Total Games, 2004-05 NBA Season
Ah, yes, the Malice at the Palace.
The famous brawl between the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers is one of the biggest disciplinary issues a sports league has ever endured. Benches cleared, players poured into the stands and fans were mauled by millionaire athletes.
And at the center of it all was Ron Artest and some of his Pacers teammates.
After the erratic Artest was hit by a plastic cup while laying on the scorer's table after a hard foul and subsequent shoving, his decision to go into the stands to punch a fan cost him 86 total games during the 2004-05 season—the longest non-drug related suspension in league history.
Occurring early in the season, Indiana went from a team with potential Finals aspirations to one just trying to survive without some of its stars—as Stephen Jackson and Jermaine O'Neal received 30- and 25-game suspensions, respectively.
Who knows how the Pacers' season may have gone had that fateful night never happened?