Wizards’ Trae Young ejected from bench days before expected D.C. debut
Trae Young has yet to play a game for the Washington Wizards.
The four-time All Star, however, has already been ejected from one game as a member of the team.
That happened Monday night, three days before Young’s expected debut with the team that acquired him in a Jan. 7 trade with the Atlanta Hawks. He has not played in an NBA game since Dec. 27 due to knee and quadriceps injuries.
Earlier Monday, Young posted a video to Instagram that showed him in Wizards gear and ended with “3/5” on the screen, indicating the date Washington will host the Utah Jazz later this week. Before his team’s game against the Houston Rockets on Monday night, Wizards coach Brian Keefe said Young had a tendency to be able to play in the Utah game.
Yet Young was in street clothes watching the Rockets-Wizards game from the bench at Capital One Arena. During the third quarter, Houston’s Tari Eason pushed Washington’s Jamir Watkins to the ground, an incident that did not elicit a whistle from the referees.
Seconds later, after Eason was fouled for a different incident involving Watkins, Young entered the court yelling at referee Jacyn Goble, apparently over the previous non-call against Eason. Goble called a technical foul on Young, then spoke with crew chief Tony Brothers and referee Marat Kogut.
Brothers then announced that the technical foul was called on Young for running onto the court and that Young was ejected from the game. Eason was also ejected.
Young waved to the fans as he left for the locker room. He didn’t speak to reporters after the Wizards’ 123-118 loss, but joked about getting kicked out on X.
“Don’t expect me to get kicked out of DC too often,” Young wrote, adding a crying-laughing emoji, “but I definitely bring that energy and competitiveness when I come back for my bros!”
After the match, Keefe praised Young for supporting his comrade.
“I think he was just sticking up for his teammates, which I thought was awesome,” Keefe told reporters. “Obviously the refs missed a call where our guy got knocked down, and I loved how our teammates stuck by him. So whatever happened at that point, I was really proud of him because he stood up for his teammates and I really care about that stuff.”
Keefe added that this is an example of the type of commitment Young has shown since joining the team.
“It’s nothing he hasn’t done since he’s been here,” Keefe said. “He talks to everyone every timeout. He sees so much. He has so much to share. He’s completely engaged in the whole game. So I’m not surprised he got up. [for] his teammates. That’s the type of guy he is, and we’re lucky to have him.
