Trae Young was ejected during Saturday's game between the Atlanta Hawks and the Indiana Pacers due to an incident that took place in the third quarter. With the game tied at 84 apiece, Young grew frustrated with the way the game was being called. He bounced the ball in frustration before chucking it at the official, drawing an immediate technical foul and ejection for the outburst.
Trae Young has been ejected from the Hawks-Pacers game for throwing the ball toward the referee with force after being called for an offensive foul on a previous play.
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) March 25, 2023
It is Young's 15th tech of the season.pic.twitter.com/bbjLCBOSA5
The ejection itself was notable, but perhaps more so was the technical foul call. That was Young's 15th of the season. When a player reaches 16 technical fouls, he earns an automatic one-game suspension. For every two subsequent technical fouls a player receives after No. 16, he is suspended another game. Draymond Green and Dillon Brooks have both drawn suspensions this season by virtue of racking up 16 technical fouls.
This has been a frustrating season for Young. The Hawks went on to win against the Pacers, raising their record to 37-37, but that record is a disappointment compared to their expectations coming into the season. A dispute between Young and former head coach Nate McMillan drew quite a bit of coverage, and McMillan was eventually replaced by Quin Snyder as Atlanta's coach.
The Hawks now control the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference, but it is a close race between them and the Toronto Raptors, who trail them by one game, and the surging Chicago Bulls, who trail them by 1.5. The Hawks needed the play-in tournament to get into the playoffs last season, and now will need them again this time around. If Young is suspended at any point between now and the end of the season, Atlanta's already bleak playoff hopes would dim considerably.
