The Lakers just lost their second-consecutive game this Wednesday night in their return from the All-Star break against the Hornets. Despite some inspiring moments, the match in general felt frustrating for the purple and gold, resulting in Austin Reaves’ first-ever ejection for calling out the referees during the contest.
Superstar LeBron James was the first to refer about his case, defending his teammate by saying that he had the right to argue against the officials’ call. However, it was the way in which the 25-year-old did it that resulted in an ejection, as the guard used profane language when complaining.
“He had every right to argue this call,” the all-time leading NBA scorer told reporters postgame in the Los Angeles locker room. “But what he said after that I don’t think it warranted him getting kicked out.”
Austin Reaves got ejected for yelling "call a f***ing foul" at the refs
NBA refs are so incredibly soft sometimes pic.twitter.com/hQ5Z15Y2XF
— Shane (@Shane00) February 20, 2025
The 40-year-old revealed what truly happened. “That he said the ‘F-bomb’ too many times,” LeBron revealed. “But he said it in the beginning and left it alone and he said it’s pretty obvious. I think, Rodney [Mott] thought he said it again. But he didn’t say it again.”
Reaves was then confronted by the press, and the Arkansas native wasted no time in acknowledging his faults during the match against Charlotte. “I said it 3 times, so I guess that third time is the charm of getting that second tech,” Austin told reporters once the game was over.
Their head coach JJ Redick assured that the Los Angeles team “competed” and even “played extremely hard,” but did admit that their overall execution was poor in last night’s 100-97 defeat to the Hornets.
“I don’t think it was just Austin (getting ejected). That certainly hurt us… overall I think we played 39-44 minutes of pretty poor offence,” he said. “Some of that is to be expected, some of it was sloppiness, some of it was poor execution, some of it was poor spacing.”
