Rockets coach Ime Udoka was ejected from Sunday’s game against the Lakers after exchanging words with Lakers star LeBron James—and a new video shows what Udoka appeared to say to James to earn the hook.
Early in the fourth quarter, Los Angeles’s Cam Reddish fouled Houston’s Tari Eason and the two started jawing when Reddish bumped Eason as he prepared to take his free throws. As the chirping continued, Udoka said something that caught the attention of James and the two began a back-and-forth that led to both men being assessed technical fouls. Because Udoka had already been issued a tech earlier in the game, he was ejected.
Mark J. Terrill/AP
A lip-reading video from Jomboy shows what Udoka and James appeared to say to each other before the ejection.
Rockets coach, Ime Udoka gets ejected after trash-talking LeBron, a breakdown pic.twitter.com/TL0VXD8Z8v
— Jomboy (@Jomboy_) December 4, 2023
“Y’all gotta stop crying like b----es, man,” Udoka said, prompting the first response from James.
“We all grown men,” James said. “That b---- word ain’t cool, man. Don’t use it so loosely. Don’t use that word so loosely.”
“Crying like b----es, man, yeah,” Udoka responded. “So what you gonna do about what I say? Walking up to me like you’re gonna do something.”
Udoka then called James “soft,” and that was when referee J.T. Orr decided he’d heard enough and issued both men technicals.
After the game, neither man wanted to talk about what transpired.
"We had some conversation and they didn't like what they heard, the refs," Udoka said.
Asked about what their conversation was about, James quipped, “Thanksgiving—how much we enjoyed Thanksgiving.”
