Nic Claxton’s temper once again got the better of him this week.
The Brooklyn Nets center was tossed in the second quarter against the Toronto Raptors on Thursday for throwing a ball into the stands after a referee’s whistle had blown the play dead. The NBA has a zero-tolerance policy for those acts, and Claxton was given a technical foul and an automatic ejection as a result.
Here is the video.
wow, Nic Claxton ejected for throwing the ball into the stands: pic.twitter.com/8lRikUo5hN
— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) December 20, 2024
After getting sent to the showers, Claxton had somewhat of an outburst on the sidelines. He picked up a seat cushion from a bench chair and appeared to be ready to throw it before being restrained from doing so by Nets assistant coach Juwan Howard.
Nic Claxton almost threw a seat cushion at the refs for getting a technical foul for this action, and getting ejected. pic.twitter.com/eMzliGJDFP
— Omer Osman (@OmerOsman200) December 20, 2024
Section V of the NBA’s rulebook states that “any player who throws or kicks the ball directly into the stands with force, regardless of the reason or where it lands, will be assessed a technical foul and ejected.” Claxton’s split-second show of frustration after being fouled with an open lane to the basket clearly met that criteria.
The 25-year-old Claxton brings good energy at 6-foot-11, serving as a nightly double-double and shot-blocking threat. But he also brings some immature behavior to the table as we already saw earlier this season when Claxton was ejected for clotheslining an opponent.
