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NEW YORK — Rick Fox was suspended for six games, Doug Christie was banished for two, and every member of the Sacramento Kings who left the bench during a fight with the Los Angeles Lakers got off scot-free. 

In a surprising ruling Monday by NBA vice president Stu Jackson, the Sacramento Kings were not punished as badly as they may have expected for their part in a bench-clearing brawl during the first quarter of an exhibition game at Los Angeles last Friday. 

Jackson ruled that because the players left the bench to join a fracas in a hallway underneath the stands, rather than on the court, they would not receive the customary one-game suspension for that offense. 

“This is not a new precedent at all,” Jackson said in a conference call with reporters. “In the end we felt this case was very unusual, a special case.” 

Fox and Christie will miss their season openers Tuesday, although Fox will be allowed to attend the Lakers’ ring ceremony prior to their game against San Antonio.