Even LeBron James' First Ejection Was One of the Best Ever

LeBron James was ejected for the first time in his career on Tuesday night. It took 15 seasons and 1082 games, but someone finally threw LeBron James out of a professional basketball game. That man was referee Kane Fitzgerald. His explanation was as simple as it was artful.

You probably think I’m going to take LeBron’s side on this and make fun of Fitzgerald saying he “threw an air punch directly” at him, but no. That is an awesome description of what happened and honestly, LeBron does this stuff all the time and the officials are the ones who are forced to walk away. Plenty of guys would have been tossed for this kind of degradation of a referee. I’m all for arguing calls, but there’s a line and LeBron stomped on it. Throw him out in a blowout regular season game and maybe his reaction is a tad bit more measured in a game that means something. Probably not, but that’s the idea.

Now let’s look at the incredible images from the ejection. You have LeBron yelling while Fitzgerald keeps his cool.

The look on Wayne Ellington’s face is priceless as Fitzgerald winds up.

The look on Dwyane Wade’s face as he knows he’s going to have to hear about this nonstop at all the secret Miami workouts and European yacht vacations from here to eternity.

And finally, the look of triumph. This is a man who makes things happen.

By the time LeBron calmed down he was at least able to find a little humor in the situation. The 8th straight win probably helped.

And well done Bleacher Report.