Former Kansas basketball guard Ochai Agbaji was ejected hilariously during the Utah Jazz’s regular-season finale.
The NBA had some outlandish storylines in yesterday’s slate of games. From Rudy Gobert punching his teammate to the Warriors winning by 56 points, there was no shortage of drama. A former Jayhawk is also in the headlines for the wrong reasons.
Ochai Agbaji has been on a roll in the past two months after a slow start to his rookie season. Since February 15th, he has averaged 13.3 points and 2.7 rebounds while connecting on 2.4 three-pointers per game. Unfortunately, a questionable decision was made by referee Derek Richardson when he chose to eject Agbaji.
The leading scorer from 2022’s national championship-winning team tossed the ball to Richardson after Damian Jones scored a dunk. He could not handle the pass from Agbaji and thought there was malicious intent behind it. You be the judge on this one:
Ochai Agbaji has been ejected from the Jazz-Lakers game after tossing the ball at the ref.pic.twitter.com/JFy3jv0l50
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 9, 2023
Perhaps the referee ejected him out of embarrassment from dropping the pass. Nonetheless, it is ridiculous to kick a player out for something that trivial amid a close game. The Jazz were losing by five points with nine minutes to go at this point in the game and lost their best player because of Richardson. There were even playoff implications for the opposing Lakers.
It was not the season-ending play that anybody had envisioned for the Kansas basketball product. However, he had a very successful rookie season and has cemented his spot as a serviceable NBA role player.