No NBA player is safe from the wrath of overzealous officials, especially if you’re clapping the wrong way. Brooklyn Nets star D’Angelo Russell learned that the hard way on Monday night when he got T’d up during a stoppage in play.
But Russell wasn’t playing. In fact, he wasn’t even dressed. Russell is recovering from knee surgery and won’t be on the floor again until the end of the month, but he somehow found himself impacting the game when he got a technical foul during the third quarter of Monday night’s game against the New York Knicks.
Russell got a technical foul called against him when he clapped before a Knicks free throw attempt. Watch the video below to see the egregious incident for yourself.
ICYMI: D'Angelo Russell receives a technical foul for "clapping in a sarcastic manner." pic.twitter.com/lhQM1HvyVn
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) January 16, 2018
There was some confusion on the broadcast as to who got the foul called because, well, Russell isn’t playing. But the “sarcastic clapping” was apparently enough to warrant some free throws. Russell, bless his heart, kept clapping after the tech was called. I guess he didn’t have much fear that he’d be kicked out because he was wearing street clothes and would have just lost a good seat for the game.
Thankfully for Russell and the Nets, it didn’t impact the game too much — the Knicks won by 15. But somehow it wasn’t even the weirdest officiating decision of the night. It’s been a strange year for player/referee relations so far, and there’s every indication that it’s only going to get more odd as the season progresses.
