Credit: Unsplash

James accidentally elbowed Isaiah Stewart in the nose.

During Sunday night basketball yesterday, the Los Angeles Lakers went head to head with the Detroit Pistons. The good news for the Lakers is that they ultimately won the game, beating the Pistons 121-116. The bad news is that their star player, and NBA star in general, LeBron James, had to be ejected from the court during the third quarter after a nasty flagrant foul.

During the third quarter, James and Stewart were vying for a rebound when James’ elbow unintentionally made contact with Stewart’s nose. It wasn’t a light impact, either; blood could be seen streaming down his face. James was slapped with a flagrant foul, but after the injury, Stewart began moving threateningly toward James, requiring teammates and staff to hold him back. This resulted in Stewart being fouled and ejected from the game as well.

Lakers staff and players are fairly certain that James didn’t commit the foul on purpose, especially considering it’s only the second foul of his entire career. “Everyone in the league knows LeBron’s not a dirty guy,” Lakers player Anthony Davis said. “In fact, when he knew he hit him, as soon as he did it, he looked back at him like, ‘Oh, my bad. I didn’t try to do it.'”

LeBron was ejected after the Lakers-Pistons game got physical.

It's his second career ejection. pic.twitter.com/upt5lWjKIQ

— ESPN (@espn) November 22, 2021

The Lakers’ coach, Frank Vogel, asserted that Stewart was the one who first made contact, though he did not contest James’ ejection. “[James] had an elbow [from Stewart] to the rib cage, which was a foul and he was trying to shed the contact,” Vogel said. “And had incidental contact that was obviously enough for a flagrant 2.”

Following the game, Stewart had to receive medical treatment for his injury, including five stitches on his face. Both Stewart and James declined to speak with reporters.