Lakers Austin Reaves lashes out after first career ejection for shocking outburst toward referee

Austin Reaves has picked up Luka Doncic’s habit of complaining to the referees — except he doesn’t have the cache to avoid getting ejected.During the third quarter of 100-97 home loss to the lowly Hornets, Reaves was ejected for his reaction to non-call on a drive to the hoop.Reaves screamed and waved his fist at the referee, eventually receiving a flagrant one foul before behing handed a second one.Reaves appeared to yell, “That’s a f–king foul,” as he was stripped going towards the rim for a turnover, and the referee immediately signaled for a technical foul.The Lakers guard walked away before a second technical foul was divvied out, pointing to potentially more comments from Reaves about the no-call, but the Lakers’ broadcast cut away as he was ejected.LeBron James had his teammate’s back after the game as he explained why Reaves was ejected, as relayed to him by official Rodney Mott.“He said that the f-bomb too many times,” James told reporters after the game.“But he said it in the beginning, and then he left it alone … I think Rodney thought he said it again, but he didn’t say it again.”“I get the first one,” Reaves said after the game.

“Obviously, I approached him, I vocally said what I needed to say and the second one I was surprised.I was walking away, and as soon as I heard the whistle, I kind of knew what had happened but I felt it was quick.” The Lakers torpedoed after losing Reaves for the remainder of the game, as Los Angeles was leading, 65-57, with just three minutes left in the third quarter.After the ejection, the Hornets went on an 12-1 run to take a 69-66 lead into the fourth.The Lakers are going through some obvious growing pains after the trade for Doncic, piling up back-to-back losses to the Jazz (13-41) and Hornets (14-39).Doncic, who has repeatedly been criticized for his complaining to referees during games, led the NBA in technical fouls in 2024 (19) and hasn’t had less than 17 in a full season sin...