Domantas Sabonis was hot. He thought he should have gotten a call after Julius Randle was physical with him on one end of the court, then Sabonis got called for a touch foul on the driving Immanuel Quickley on the other.
Sabonis stormed over to the official and said a few magical words that got him a quick technical. Then he bumped the ref and got ejected.
Sabonis was ejected after this play pic.twitter.com/dUiuFQKmQN
— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) March 8, 2022
Wednesday the NBA came down on Sabonis with a one-game suspension for contact with an official. From the official release from the NBA league office:
The incident began with Sabonis receiving a technical foul for an unsportsmanlike reaction to a called foul. Sabonis then reacted demonstratively again in the vicinity of the game official, and approached and bumped the official in a hostile manner, resulting in a second technical foul and an ejection.
As is the trend today, the Kings took to social media to disagree. Back your guy, even if he did bump the ref.
We disagree with the NBA’s decision to suspend Domantas Sabonis. He is a consummate professional and the ultimate competitor. We stand behind Domas, and he has our full support.
— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) March 9, 2022
Sabonis will sit — without pay — Wednesday night when the Kings take on Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets.
It’s a big loss for the Kings, who have run much of their offense through Sabonis since trading for him at the deadline. Sabonis has averaged 17.4 points and 12.8 rebounds a game for the Kings.
