For just the fourth time in his NBA career, Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo was ejected on Wednesday night against the Detroit Pistons.
While some of the other times featured offenses such as headbutting an opponent or arguing with referees, Wednesday’s ejection was different.
After receiving a technical foul late in the first half, Antetokounmpo picked up a second early in the third quarter after a powerful dunk. Antetokounmpo glared toward Pistons forward Isaiah Stewart and was issued the second technical foul, an automatic ejection, by the referee who was along the baseline at halfcourt, not the referee nearest to the play.
All in all, it’s an incredibly soft call on a superstar player at home, especially when he already has one technical foul. It’s hard to see anything Anteokounmpo does here as ejection-worthy.
Antetokounmpo finished the night with 15 points, nine rebounds, and five assists.
Naturally, fans on social media weren’t pleased with the call.
One fan said, “Imagine paying money to go see Giannis do his superstar thing and the refs are like “nah ya’ll came here to see us!”
Another echoed the sentiment, saying, “The NBA should issue partial refunds to all fans that bought tickets to this game.”
Yet another fan agreed, saying, “Adam Silver owes Bucks fans a refund and an apology after refs went rogue and tossed Giannis based on something he’s done every single game of his career.”
And another wanted to remind the refs that people come to see the players, saying, “NBA should refund half the ticket price for that bogus ejection. Literally everyone there is there to watch Giannis. They were robbed of it because a little Napoleon syndrome nerd unilaterally decided so.”
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