Things got a little chippy between Chicago Bulls guard Kris Dunn and Atlanta Hawks rookie Trae Young on Sunday.
Everything led up to Young pulling up from just inside the logo and draining a deep three early in the third quarter. The rookie then gave Dunn a stare down as he walked back to his bench.
This led to a technical and an ejection for Young – which has immediately made a lot of people question the toughness of the league.
One of the people questioning the NBA at the moment is Gary Payton.
What's the king of trash talk think of Trae Young's ejection… #TheBounce pic.twitter.com/uttRBpZzuR
— Yahoo Sports NBA (@YahooSportsNBA) March 4, 2019
Payton reacted to both Reggie Miller's reaction and Trae Young's play. He seems to agree with Miller that the call was a little ridiculous.
Young stared maybe a little longer than he should have, but didn't say anything. This could easily be seen as a simple celebration. If so, why isn't Steph Curry T'd up for his shimmy? What about when James Harden or LeBron James celebrate?
Young had 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting to this point in the game. His removal from the contest could've very easily swayed favor in the Bulls' direction, but the Hawks held on for the win.
If Atlanta would've lost, this probably would've brought the call under even more scrutiny.
However, Payton also acknowledged that tempers were high in the game. Young should've known that an extra-long glare might not go over too well with the refs. This is a situation where you need to maybe mean-mug your own bench or try and keep your emotions to yourself a little more.
In the end, this will be a call that is brought up for a while. The quick trigger on the second technical for Trae Young has already raised many eyebrows. It will probably be compared to other technicals (and non-technicals) coming off celebrations for quite some time.
For now though, we know that Reggie Miller and Gary Payton are on the side of “unnecessary”.
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