Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo was ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct on Wednesday, and LeBron James’ emoji said it all
Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo was ejected for taunting during Wednesday night’s game against the Detroit Pistons; many NBA fans believe the ejection went too far. Even Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James weighed in on social media, responding to news of the expulsion with a simple emoji.
All LeBron had to do was post a “facepalm” emoji on X (formerly known as Twitter) and NBA fans knew what he was referring to.
During a home game in Milwaukee, Giannis received a technical foul in the second quarter and was ejected again early in the third quarter in front of Bucks fans.
It was a questionable decision, and the NBA explained the two unsportsmanlike technical fouls and subsequent ejection in a postgame pool report:
“During the game, Giannis broke through to the basket and he thought he had been fouled. He then approached the game officials and used profanity, which was an unsportsmanlike technical foul and was assessed at that time.” Team captain Rodney Motte confirmed when talking about Antetokounmpo’s first technical foul at 3:47 of the second quarter.
Motte also revealed that he decided to send one more unathletic player to the Bucks forward, as he did at 9:00 of the third quarter, which marked the end of the night for the Greek Freak.
“After the dunk, Giannis turned to his opponent and taunted him, and was assessed a taunting technical foul, which was an unethical act. According to the rules, he was ejected from the game for two unsportsmanlike technical fouls. , you get ejected from the game,” Mott explained.
It appears that most NBA fans agree with LeBron James. While Giannis needs to be careful after already picking up a technical foul, the level of “taunting” he did after dunking on Pistons center Isaiah Stewart didn’t appear to be enough to warrant ejection.