Ja Morant was ejected with 43 seconds to play in the first half during Saturday night’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Morant was confused as to why he was ejected from the game.
“I got my first tech for saying I got hit in my (expletive) face. Didn’t curse at him,” Morant said. “Another situation where he’s in my conversation and I get another tech for talking with a fan. I feel like when these fans came here, went online to buy these tickets, they didn’t say (official) Ray (Acosta’s) name to come watch.”
After the ejection, Morant called his father, who brought his phone over to the fans Morant had been talking with. Morant thanked them for supporting him and for coming out to the game.
“They came to support us,” Morant said after the game. “They came to watch us play. I don’t care about getting fined.”
In a pool report following the game, lead official John Goble said Morant’s first technical foul was “use of profanity directed at an official”. Goble said Morant received his second technical foul, and ejection, for “making a comment questioning the integrity of an official.”
