Ja Morant was ejected at the end of the second quarter from Grizzlies-Thunder for one of the most bizarre technical fouls of the season. During some free throws, Morant was having a friendly conversation with a fan courtside when the referee hit him with his second T of the night, ejecting him in the process to the disbelief of everyone — Morant, the rest of the Grizzlies, and the fan who pleaded with the refs to walk back the decision.
Here is the moment Ja Morant was ejected from tonight's game. pic.twitter.com/eSm5xb0qvx
— Bally Sports: Grizzlies (@GrizzOnBally) December 18, 2022
While the broadcast team seemed to think he was getting into it with a fan, in actuality Morant was having a discussion with the fan when he said the “refs won’t give me a f**kin whistle,” which drew the second T. Morant wanted to make sure the fan didn’t think he blamed her for the interaction, and even went so far as to FaceTime his dad from the locker room so he could take the phone to the fan and they could continue their conversation and make sure they knew it was all love.
Update:@JaMorant is FaceTiming the people he was talking to when he got ejected! 🤣 pic.twitter.com/H3wVmrmm4c
— Gabe Ikard (@GabeIkard) December 18, 2022
https://twitter.com/J_Daniels17/status/1604308039510769664
The league has been very active in fining players for using profanity with fans, but this is one of the more preposterous punishments yet. To eject Morant, who had gotten T’d up earlier in the game for arguing a no-call, for this kind of interaction with a fan just cannot be the type of thing the league allows to happen. Fans want to see stars, particularly on the road, and to give out a soft ejection like this is just bad for everyone, and rescinding the second technical (as one would anticipate happening) isn’t going to undo the worst part of this.
