The usually mild-mannered Austin Reaves lost his cool and got himself ejected.
The Los Angeles Lakers guard Reaves was tossed from his team’s game on Wednesday against the Charlotte Hornets, the very first NBA game following the All-Star break. In the third quarter, Reaves was driving to the basket and got stripped of the ball by Charlotte center Jusuf Nurkic.
Reaves felt that he got fouled on the play and punched the air in front of referee Rodney Mott (No. 71). Mott promptly hit Reaves with a technical foul and then gave him a second technical foul for continuing to argue, triggering an automatic ejection.
Here are a couple of other angles of the play that Reaves was upset about.
The 26-year-old Reaves then went on to fling his headband into the stands after being ejected. He finished the night with eight points and two assists on 3/9 shooting in his 27 minutes of play.
Reaves has been a breakout star for the Lakers this season, especially after D’Angelo Russell got traded away, and holds overall averages of 19.1 points and 6.2 assists per game. But in the middle of a heated battle on Wednesday against the lowly Hornets, Reaves lost his temper and earned his first career ejection in four NBA seasons.
It may be worth noting too that Mott is known for having a quick trigger when it comes to ejections. A couple of years ago, Mott was also responsible for ejecting Reaves’ now-teammate Luka Doncic from a game.
