Stephen A. Smith knew Giannis Antetokounmpo was ejected Wednesday night. But Smith didn’t know why Antetokounmpo was ejected until Thursday morning, and he was repulsed.
During the third quarter of the Milwaukee Bucks’ 120-118 win over the Detroit Pistons, Antetokounmpo briefly mean-mugged Isaiah Stewart after dunking on the Pistons’ forward. Antetokounmpo was quickly handed a technical foul for the staredown. That happened to be his second of the game, meaning he would be ejected.
Thursday morning on First Take, Molly Qerim noted Antetokounmpo’s ejection while introducing the question of “Are the 76ers the best team in the East?” Floored by the reason for Antetokounmpo’s ejection, Smith put the segment on pause to address the referee’s blasphemous technical foul call.
“I’m gonna call the league office today,” Smith declared. “Who the hell is paying to see the referee? That is not a reason to eject Giannis Antetokounmpo from a game. That is ridiculous. That is a disservice to the fans, to the paying customer coming to see them play.”
“I did not know that that was the reason that Giannis Antetokounmpo got ejected from a basketball game. That is not a reason to eject a superstar basketball player who clearly, the paying customer is coming to see,” Smith continued. “For Giannis Antetokounmpo to get ejected for that reason is ridiculous.”
Hopefully, commissioner Adam Silver will be sitting by his phone to take that call. Because as Silver attempts to please the NBA’s TV partners by preaching the importance of stars playing in regular season games, the referee did everyone a disservice by telling Antetokounmpo he couldn’t play Wednesday night.
The NBA took a stand against load management this season, implementing a policy designed for keep players from sitting out games and resting just to rest. But it seems grossly hypocritical of the league to emphasize the importance of stars playing in a largely-meaningless regular-season game, while simultaneously attempting to hinder a star’s ability to act like a star.