NBA takes action after Dejounte Murray's technical foul in loss to Nets

The NBA got involved following Atlanta Hawks (26-34) star Dejounte Murray receiving a technical foul in the 114-102 loss to the Brooklyn Nets on March 2.

Official Tony Brothers gave Murray the tech, apparently for not responding to him, during a timeout in the fourth quarter of the game while the Hawks guard was seated on the bench. Brothers could be seen discussing what happened with Trae Young.

Murray reacted to the technical on social media.

“Getting A Tech Because There Was Nothing To Talk About Is UNBELIEVABLE,” Murray exclaimed in a post on X, formerly Twitter on March 2.

The league appears to at least agree the call was unnecessary.

“Dejounte Murray’s (ATL) technical foul at 4:16 of the 4th qtr on 3/2/24 has been rescinded upon league office review,” the NBA Official’s handle on X posted on March 3.

Murray finished the game with 20 points, 11 assists, six rebounds, two steals, and one block in the contest. He struggled from the floor in the third quarter, shooting just 1-for-5 from the floor in the frame.

However, he bounced back in the fourth, knocking down three of his five looks.

It’s unclear just what drew the call. But it came during an especially brutal stretch for the Hawks, who had cut a 15-point Nets lead back down to 10 points at 100-90 with 6:10 to go in the final frame of the game thanks to a successful and-1 attempt by Saddiq Bey.

Nic Claxton put the Nets back up by 12 points. Then, D’Andre Hunter missed a technical free throw (courtesy of Mikal Bridges), and Bogdan Bogdanovic had back-to-back passes picked off.

The icing on the cake was likely the missed traveling call on Cam Johnson.

Brothers was standing right in front of the play, which ended in a three-pointer from former Hawk Dennis Schroder, giving the Nets a 17-point lead. It was after that play that Brothers could be seen trying to talk to Murray to no avail.

Dejounte Murray penalized for following the rules in Hawks’ loss

In a league where the officials hand out technical fouls for being shown up, Brothers’ act was the polar opposite. 

There did not appear to be any derogatory language exchanged between Brothers following Murray and the technical being levied. And players are often encouraged to walk away rather than engage with the officials out of frustration.

It is good that the league took action, and did so swiftly.

What is not so good is that the relationship between players and officials is taking away from the actual basketball.

Between the nightly blown calls that people see for themselves and the NBA’s daily Last 2-Minute Reports which seem to feature several missed calls nightly, far too much energy is being given to the administrative side of what is supposed to be a fast-paced game.