I think Shannon is wrong on this one. Lebron needs to be suspended. The easiest way to answer this one is what would have happened if Isaiah Stewart had hit Lebron in the face and he started bleeding profusely from the mouth and the eye? Everyone on the Lakers would be calling for Stewarts immediate ejection and suspension and if that's true the opposite should be true too.
Intentionality only matters to Lebron and the Lakers. The ultimate outcome of the action was that he opened up his face. It's unfortunate but I think you need to suspend him.
I think Skip is on top of this one. I think for a brief moment Lebron just kind of lost himself. I think there were a number of things that contributed to this. Lakers were down double digits to one of the worse teams in the league, they had a losing record(8-9 at the time), Lebron is coming back from injury, Lakers have chemistry/fit issues and then here is a young, 20 year old Isaiah Stewart who is roughly the same height and weight, getting physical with Lebron in the paint, making him earn every inch. I think just for a brief moment Lebron just kind of lost himself . Its hard to tell if he meant to hit him in the face you could honestly take it either way but the way he swung his arm, that was definitely frustration. And when you swing like that you gotta make sure you don't hit someone in the face, you just can't do it.