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Ja Morant was ejected Saturday night in the Grizzlies’ matchup against the Thunder. His absence from the game would prove to be too much for his team to overcome as Memphis fell, 115-109.
The circumstances surrounding the ejection have now come into question.
At first look, Morant seemed to land the dismissal from the game for arguing with an official. But after looking back at the tape, it appeared that the NBA star was actually having an interaction with one of the fans in the front row. While nothing about the situation looked to be escalating, the official next to Morant T’d him up.
We’ll let you decide for yourself.
This is the entire Morant episode so you can see for yourself. This is madness. pic.twitter.com/kye0DluWEn
— Chris Vernon (@ChrisVernonShow) December 18, 2022
Morant appears to be talking to a Grizzlies fan who’s sitting courtside. After a bit of digging, that supporter looks to be a Ja Superfan that was just giving him some words of encouragement.
Morant had just been called for a foul, one that he disagreed with. The referee apparently took offense to the exchange, thinking that the two were criticizing him for getting the call wrong.
Both Morant and the fan looked stunned at the whistle, which forced Memphis to play without their star for the entirety of the second half. On Sunday, Ja Morant replied to the ejection.
He posted a message online trolling the ref for his reasoning behind the dismissal.
https://t.co/EkAOiKK1a9 pic.twitter.com/sPvjBHyTvU
— Ja Morant (@JaMorant) December 18, 2022
When talking about the ejection, official John Goble replied, “No,” when asked if the call was made for Morant’s comments to the crowd. It very clearly was what stemmed the incident.
Like Morant, most NBA fans were stunned by the ejection, and they let it be known on social media. One person wrote, “Somebody needs to check on these refs FanDuel accounts man.”
Others noted that a fine might soon be on the way for Morant for his response to the ejection. This fan wrote, “Get your checkbook out, but this one was worth the coming fine.”
Morant will look to get over this incident and get back on the court for the Grizzlies’ next matchup.
Related: Ja Morant sends cryptic tweet trolling Draymond Green