NBA Investigating Dejounte Murray’s Actions Toward Officials

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is currently investigating the actions of Dejounte Murray, a guard for the Atlanta Hawks. The league is looking into how he treated officials during the match between the Boston Celtics and the Atlanta Hawks in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference first-round series. A source from the NBA has confirmed that the league is investigating the incident.

Despite scoring 23 points, nine rebounds, and six assists in 40 minutes during Sunday’s game, Murray appeared to make contact with referee Gediminas Petraitis as Murray was leaving the court after the game, which the Celtics won 129-121. Moreover, he turned back and pointed and yelled at someone before exiting the court. Murray is in his first season with the Hawks after being acquired in a blockbuster trade with the San Antonio Spurs last summer.

NBA Discipline and Next Game

In these sorts of situations, the NBA usually makes a decision on discipline before the next game in the series. The Hawks will face the Celtics back in Boston for Game 5 on Tuesday night, with another Celtics victory allowing them to advance to the conference semifinals against the Philadelphia 76ers and ending Atlanta’s season.

The league also usually takes a tough stance against anyone making contact with a game official. Celtics forward Grant Williams was suspended for a game in October for making contact with a game official when he was ejected in the fourth quarter of a loss to the Chicago Bulls.

Murray is averaging 25.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 5.8 assists, and 2.3 steals through four games in this series. Across 74 games this season, he averaged 20.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 6.1 assists. However, while still with San Antonio last season, Murray was fined $20,000 after he was ejected from a game at the Memphis Grizzlies on Feb. 28, 2022, for throwing a game ball off the legs of a referee.

The Hawks did not make Murray available for interviews following the contest, and the NBA has not yet made any announcements regarding their decision on discipline.