There isn’t much that LeBron James hasn’t done on the basketball court during his 15-year NBA career. But on Tuesday night, he did something for the first time ever: He managed to get himself ejected from a game during the Cavaliers’ contest against the Heat.
LeBron, who was playing in the 1,082nd game of his career, was sent packing with about 2 minutes remaining in the third quarter after he argued with one of the game’s referees Kane Fitzgerald over what he believed to be a missed foul call on Miami forward James Johnson. Fitzgerald responded to LeBron’s complaints by hitting him with a technical foul and ejecting him, even though it was only his first technical of the game.
You can watch the ejection play out here:
After the game, Fitzgerald spoke with a reporter and explained why he decided to throw LeBron out of the game for arguing with him over a foul call. He accused LeBron of directing expletives at him just prior to his ejection.
"It was a culmination of a couple different acts," he said. "Immediately after the no-call, he turned and threw an air punch directly at me, and then he aggressively charged at me, and then he used vulgarity in my ear a few times."
The Cavaliers were leading the Heat by more than 20 points at that point in the game, and they went on to win 108-97. So LeBron's ejection didn’t end up affecting the final outcome of the contest. But LeBron and his Cleveland teammates were still miffed as to why Fitzgerald decided to eject LeBron from the game after it ended.
LeBron initially downplayed the ejection and said that he was just happy the Cavaliers won the game.
"I got fouled all the way up the court, from the time that I stripped [Johnson], all the way until I got to the rim," he said. "I said what I had to say and then I moved on, but he decided I should get [ejected]. It is what it is. We got the win, and that’s what’s most important."
But he later said he doesn’t believe he’s getting enough calls when he takes the ball to the basket. He suggested referees are trying to force him to change his overall approach to the game.
"I’m one of the league leaders in points in the paint," he said. "I drive just as much as anybody. At this point, it’s almost like they’re trying to turn me into a jump shooter. I can’t be a jump shooter. I’m not a jump shooter. I watch games every single night and I see jump shooters going to the line multiple, double-digit times every night. I’m not a jump shooter and I get fouled just as much as everybody else."
He also joked about the ejection on Instagram early Wednesday morning by saying that the sneakers he wore during the game should now be called "The Ejection Game" Soldier 11s.
Dwyane Wade chimed in on the situation after the game and said that he felt Fitzgerald tossed LeBron way too quickly, especially when you consider that this is LeBron we’re talking about.
"I just thought it was quick," he said. "I mean, a player like him, you give him the benefit of the doubt. He says something, you give him a tech, kind of walk away and let him calm down. That’s it. That’s all I got on that."
Kyle Korver spoke on LeBron's ejection as well and said that, now that he’s playing alongside LeBron, he understands why he gets so upset with the way he is officiated at times.
"It’s funny, because when you’re not on LeBron’s team, you’re like, 'Man, that guy gets every call,'" he said, "and then you come on his team and you’re like, 'Man, that guy never gets any calls.' It’s unbelievable."
Kevin Love also spoke on LeBron's ejection and said LeBron probably shouldn’t have run up on Fitzgerald the way he did. But like Wade and Korver, he thought Fitzgerald was too quick to pull the trigger on ejecting him.
"I know he probably said something to warrant a tech, and you’re not supposed to run up on a ref like that," Love said. "But when you look at the play, he got fouled. I just didn’t think that was something that would get you tossed. He means so much to our team, and he’s been so tough in the fourth quarter that I thought that was just a tough, tough call."
LeBron’s coach Tyronn Lue, on the other hand, didn’t have a whole lot to say about LeBron’s ejection. He said he wasn’t going to protest it like some of LeBron’s teammates did.
"Should have got thrown out," Lue said. "Yup…I really don’t know what he said. He got kicked out. Want me to go against the ref? No, he got thrown out. He’s out."
But LeBron’s ejection clearly touched a lot of nerves out there. Some people were happy to see LeBron get tossed after all of the complaining he’s done about foul calls over the years. Enes Kanter—who has been beefing with LeBron a lot lately—even used the ejection to troll LeBron.
But the consensus seemed to be that LeBron didn’t deserve to get ejected in this particular situation.
LeBron and the Cavaliers will return to the court with a game against the Hawks on Thursday night. It’ll be interesting to see if his ejection has any effect on the way he interacts with referees moving forward.
