Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies have quietly risen to the top of the crowded Western Conference standings this season. Despite that, their 115-109 loss on Saturday night to the Oklahoma City Thunder saw them miss out on a solid opportunity to put some distance between themselves and the rest of the pack in the West.

It certainly didn't help that the Grizzlies were forced to play the second half without Morant, who was ejected from the game right before halftime for picking up his second technical foul of the night. Morant claimed he was just having a conversation with a fan sitting courtside at the game, and had a hilarious reaction on Twitter to the NBA's explanation for why he was ejected from the game.

The reasoning for Morant's ejection was that he was questioning an official's integrity, which did not appear to happen. Morant was talking with a fan while free throws were being shot, and was promptly assessed his second technical foul in a span of 11 seconds. In the blink of an eye, Morant was ejected from the game, and the Grizzlies found themselves in a tough spot.

Despite trailing by 21 points at halftime, the Grizzlies did their best to claw their way back into the game without Morant, but it proved to be too big of a hole to dig themselves out of. It was certainly a strange ejection for Morant, and this appears to be another incident of questionable officiating in the NBA this season.

If officials continue to get involved in taking stars of the game prematurely like what happened here with Morant, it will only spell bad news for the game of basketball, and it looks like the league may need to take action to prevent things like this from happening in the future.