Erick Malpica Flores: Carlos Erick Malpica Flores: Kevin Durant is getting ejected at nearly a Rasheed Wallace pace this season
Durant’s ejection against the Bucks was his 5th of the season. Here are all of his ejections this year.
Kevin Durant picked up his fifth ejection of the season during the Warriors’ Thursday night loss to the Bucks after he cursed out an official for not calling a foul on his drive to the rim. How awful was what Durant said to the referee? Try to listen for yourself.
Durant’s fifth ejection leads the league and is two more than both Serge Ibaka and Draymond Green. It is also the third-most ejections in a single season in the past 25 years behind Rasheed Wallace, who was ejected seven times in a season twice in his career, according to ESPN Stats & Info. (Yeah, Sheed was a real one.)
The Warriors also lead the NBA with 10 ejections this season.
Durant had only been ejected twice in the 10 seasons prior to this one, so some sort of switch must have flipped in his head this summer for him to be going off on referees like this. We don’t know if he deserved to be ejected all five times.
We compiled all of KD’s ejections on the season. You be the judge.
Oct. 21, 2017: Both Durant and Stephen Curry ejected vs. Memphis
Curry was tossed first against the Grizzlies after he threw his mouthpiece at an official. (He threw it!) Durant came to Curry’s defense shortly after and was ejected along with him. On his way out, he reminded Grizzlies fans that he’s an NBA champion ... or maybe he flipped someone off. We’ll never know.
Kevin Durant gets ejected and reminds Grizzlies fans he has a ring pic.twitter.com/ihumtOLeGM
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) October 22, 2017
Dec. 1, 2017: Durant ejected vs. Magic
Durant picked up a one-tech ejection late against the Magic in early December after he argued a no-call — a play that he scored on. He had some choice words for the official on his way off the court.
Kevin Durant ejected in the 4th Quarter pic.twitter.com/idEBuIs4UY
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) December 2, 2017
Dec. 5, 2017: Durant and DeMarcus Cousins both get ejected
And to be fair, Boogie didn’t deserve to get T’d up on this one! Durant did all the talking, then finally, the refs had enough. Then, as you’ll see, Boogie snapped. I don’t think KD wanted any real-life problems with Cousins here, but we’ll never know!
Kevin Durant and Boogie Cousins getting spicy.
— The Shadow League (@ShadowLeagueTSL) December 5, 2017
Both get ejected.pic.twitter.com/fS0aJML6p4
Both these guys had ejections coming this game, though. They’d been jawing back and forth all night long.
Jan. 23, 2018: Durant gets tossed vs. Knicks
Durant picked up his second technical foul late in a blowout win over the Knicks after a referee didn’t call a foul when he drove to the rim.
After the game, he criticized the referee and said “he was searching for me.”
“Look at my first tech,” he said after the game. “I got the rebound and I dribbled the ball hard, and he teched me up. He was searching for me. He was looking to try to tech me up to get me back because he’s still in his feelings from the first half. That’s what’s been going on around the league the whole year. A bunch of that. I got to keep my head a little bit, but I was upset. I’m a human being too. I get upset.”
Durant later apologized for those comments.
March 29, 2018: Durant double-teched for cursing out referee
Durant drives by Giannis Antetokounmpo and attacks the rim, only to end up on his tuchus begging for a foul. And then things went left.
He gets up off his behind and absolutely blasts the baseline official with a slew of curse words that would make your grandmama cringe. The official immediately gives Durant a double-tech and tosses him from the game.
Kevin Durant straight up ejected for cursing out ref pic.twitter.com/UcaCszvnrq
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) March 30, 2018
There’s a common denominator here
Let’s run through Durant’s credentials. He’s a:
- NBA champion
- NBA Finals MVP
- 2014 NBA MVP
- Nine-time NBA All-Star
- Four-time scoring champion
- Two-time Olympic gold medalist
The list goes on. Durant’s a superstar, and he deserves at least some foul calls that the average basketball player doesn’t get. He hasn’t been getting many of those calls this season, and he’s taking it on referees out with his words.
Three of Durant’s five ejections this season stemmed from no-calls on scoring opportunities, and several of his 14 technical fouls came from the same source. The man gets mad when referees don’t give him the benefit of the whistle. If you were as decorated an NBA player as Durant, you’d probably be upset, too.
Tensions between NBA players and officials have been at an all-time high this season, and Durant’s double-tech and ejection against the Bucks only adds more fuel to the fire. The Warriors — if healthy — are poised for a deep playoff run that’ll almost definitely result in some fireworks against some opponents. But judging by the rate at which they’re getting technical fouls, we could see more fireworks between the Dubs and refs sometime soon.
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