Russell Westbrook accidentally hits referee in head with basketball

Russell Westbrook tried throwing a basketball to a referee during Wednesday night’s game against the Charlotte Hornets, but it didn’t go as planned.

Russell Westbrook has had a terrific season as the top star of the Oklahoma City Thunder, averaging a triple-double. The team isn’t sitting at the top of the Western Conference, but things haven’t gone too bad for the Thunder throughout the 2016-17 season with their 21-14 record heading into Wednesday night’s game against the Hornets.

If there was any glitch to Westbrook’s season, it came during this matchup with what seemed like an accidental act on the potential NBA MVP’s part. As he passed a referee a basketball during a timeout, the official turned away and led to the ball hitting him directly in the head. This led to Westbrook reacting accordingly, getting upset that the referee didn’t look.

Westbrook ended up getting a technical foul from this incident, which can be seen below:

After the league office reviews, this Westbrook should get this foul rescinded because based off his reaction, this seemed fully unintentional. He had just been trying to give the referee the ball, and while he should have just bounced it back, there is no reason for this foul to stand.

What if this was an intentional act by Westbrook, though? It doesn’t seem like it, but if someone actually intended on throwing a ball at a referee’s head, shouldn’t that warrant a double technical and an ejection? If anything, that would also warrant a suspension for purposely throwing a ball at a referee with intent to injure.

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We’ll see if the NBA actually does rescind this technical foul, as it would be surprising if they do not. Would there be any sort of outcry if they don’t take this away from Westbrook?