Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic got ejected on Tuesday night in the most baffling fashion while playing the Chicago Bulls on the road.
Referees ejected Jokic after he simply tried to advocate for something with one of the game’s referees, which sparked mass confusion with Jokic, Denver coach Michael Malone, the game’s broadcasting crew and even the spectators at United Center who came to see Jokic play.
It’s very rare that you’re going to see a home crowd boo referees for ejecting a visiting player, but this is just how confounding the ejection was.
It’s incredibly hard to justify why Jokic got any sort of response here from the ref he was talking to, much less an actual ejection.
To make this even worse, Awful Announcing noted that it was Serbian Heritage Night at the game.
Nikola Jokic is immediately ejected from the Bulls-Nuggets for arguing a no-call and even Bulls announcers Adam Amin and Stacey King are in disbelief.
"The people didn't come to see the officials, let's be honest, they came to see the players."
It's Serbian Heritage Night in… pic.twitter.com/w8ejIp4AMX
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 13, 2023
We’re not even sure what else to say here. This is just a gross overstep of officiating, sending out perhaps the game’s best player for something so routine as arguing something with a referee.
NBA fans were just not here for this.