Watch: Westbrook drills unsuspecting ref's head with pass
Thunder's Russell Westbrook drills referee in the head with the ball pic.twitter.com/57PygvLNHG
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) January 5, 2017
On a day when he had two previous technical fouls rescinded by the NBA, the Oklahoma City Thunder's Russell Westbrook added another to his total in the most peculiar of fashions.
While walking to his bench during a timeout in the opening quarter of Wednesday's game against the Charlotte Hornets, Westbrook tossed the basketball back at unsuspecting referee Tre Maddox and hit him squarely in the back of the head.
As a result, the five-time All-Star was assessed his 10th technical of the 2016-17 season.
It was clearly accidental on Westbrook's part, which explains his fuss over getting whistled for the tech. Of course, the league could always decide to rescind this one as well if it so chooses.