LeBron James was ejected for throwing a dirty elbow/slap at Isaiah Stewart during Sunday’s game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Detroit Pistons.
The players were lined up under the basket as Jerami Grant attempted his second of two free throws in the third quarter. James was getting boxed out and struggling with Stewart for positioning. Upset about being boxed out, James appeared to throw an elbow/slap at Stewart’s face:
https://twitter.com/gifdsports/status/1462580244427288598
Here is another angle of it:
https://twitter.com/NBA_ClipIt/status/1462579971113762817
And this angle pretty clearly shows James nailed Stewart with a spinning backfist move:
https://twitter.com/RedAlternates/status/1462580543275425792
Stewart was bloodied by the shot and went after multiple Lakers players (video here).
https://twitter.com/mcten/status/1462579317620281350
Stewart and James were both ejected from the game. Russell Westbrook was also hit with a technical foul. Wayne Ellington got to shoot one technical free throw, which he made. For Detroit, Josh Jackson got two technical free throws and went 1-for-2.
The ejection was just the second of James’ entire NBA career. His first ejection came in 2017 after an incident with referee Kane Fitzgerald.
