Basketball: Injured DeMarcus Cousins finds way to get ejected from Warriors game despite not playing

File photo of DeMarcus Cousins of the Golden State Warriors attending a shootaround at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Oct 10, 2018. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

(REUTERS) - Even when DeMarcus Cousins isn't on the court, he's still a prime candidate to be ejected from an NBA game.

The four-time All-Star proved as much on Friday night (Oct 26), when he was issued a technical foul and tossed from the Golden State Warriors' bench during the first quarter of their 128-100 win over the New York Knicks.

Cousins, who has yet to play a game for Golden State as he continues to recover from his season-ending Achilles injury suffered as a member of the New Orleans Pelicans last season, was tossed by referee Scott Foster after jawing back and forth with Knicks center Enes Kanter.

Warned to stop the back-and-forth with Kanter, Cousins turned his attention to Foster, who sent him to the locker room early.

"Kanter and Cousins were warned prior to the ejection about talking to the bench," Foster later said. ""Cousins took exception to the ruling and during the time-out he was ejected for one technical foul for unsportsmanlike conduct."

Cousins was issued one technical foul instead of the normal two to result in an ejection. Foster said "the way of which he stated what he stated" was what prompted his ruling.

"I did check with Scott," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after the game."He said he had warned, I think he was jawing with maybe Kanter and then I asked Scott and he said (the ejection) was because he had already warned him and then he kept going at Scott, I guess, so I'll talk to him about it. I got to hear from DeMarcus what happened and we'll talk it out."

Nicknamed "Boogie", the former Sacramento Kings player signed a one-year deal with the Warriors during the off-season. Cousins, 28, has now been ejected 14 times in his career, along with earning 119 technical fouls.

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