Nets’ Nic Claxton has to be restrained from throwing seat cushion after ejection
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.
