CHICAGO — Frustration mounted quickly in the Chicago Bulls’ blowout loss to the Miami Heat on Friday, and Kevin Huerter was taxed for venting.
With 8:18 remaining in the third quarter and the Bulls trailing by 19, Huerter was whistled for a foul on a play where he made contact with Heat wing Pelle Larson’s jump shot. Huerter thought he got all ball. Upset with the call, he slapped the ball toward the scorer’s table, which made contact with official Che Flores after a bounce.
Huerter swore the ball hit Flores by accident. Official Tony Brothers, who opted to eject Huerter, didn’t think so.
“After review, the play meets the standards of an ejection,” Brothers said to the tune of boos from the United Center crowd following the review. “Therefore, he’s ejected for the contact (with) the ball to the official.”
Kevin Huerter was ejected from tonight’s game on this play: pic.twitter.com/A1KDxxcZqO
— Bulls on CHSN (@CHSN_Bulls) November 22, 2025
On the floor, Huerter was incredulous, pleading for an answer for what he’d done. Long dressed before Chicago’s locker room opened following the defeat, Huerter seemed dumbfounded.
“I didn’t get much explanation,” Huerter said after Chicago’s 143-107 loss. “Apologies to that ref, think it was Che. Wasn’t malicious, wasn’t intended to be aggressive toward her. I don’t know the rule, so I guess now I’m aware.”
The NBA’s rulebook stipulates that players can receive technical fouls and be ejected for “the deliberate act of throwing the ball or any object at an official by a player, coach, trainer, or other team bench person.” In his postgame news conference, Bulls coach Billy Donovan relayed that Brothers “felt like (Huerter’s) intention was to smack the ball at the official.”
The call, which complied with the letter of the law but was considered controversial by the Bulls’ broadcast and many fans online, was deemed laughable inside the Bulls’ locker room.
“I mean, I don’t know,” guard Josh Giddey said behind a chortle. “I guess the rule’s the rule, whether it’s right or wrong. It’s not up for me to decide. Tony made the call. … it is what it is.”
In the same quarter, both Matas Buzelis (ankle) and Isaac Okoro (lower back) exited with injuries. Buzelis would return, though it hardly mattered as the game spun off the rails.
The loss brought the Bulls to 8-7 and back to ninth place in the Eastern Conference as of Friday night. Now 1-2 in NBA Cup play, Chicago was effectively taken out of contention for the knockout round.