/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66107562/1199663928.jpg.0.jpg)
DeMar DeRozan has had a very good week. He’s on an offensive tear that can only matched by two of the all time GOATs in Michael Jordan and LeBron James and was just named Western Conference Player of the Week after helping the Spurs beat three of the East’s top four teams last week.
One of those wins — a 105-104 decision against his former team, the Toronto Raptors — was highlighted by his posterization of Chris Boucher on a momentum-shifting dunk, which on a smaller level was somewhat tainted by a bizarre technical foul because referee Gediminas Petraitis apparently felt DeRozan taunted Boucher as he got up.
DEMAR JUST ENDED CHRIS BOUCHER pic.twitter.com/QtT0WCR2Ex
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 13, 2020
Everyone was bewildered at the call as video replay showed nothing seemingly worthy of a technical, with DeRozan even saying yesterday that he hopes the league rescinds the call, as he felt he did nothing wrong.
“I thought there was no reason for a technical foul, honestly. I didn’t do nothing, I didn’t say nothing, I didn’t make any warm hand gestures or anything like that. So, it is what it is. Hopefully, I can get it rescinded.”
Fortunately, his wish has been granted.
The league has rescinded the technical foul DeMar DeRozan received against Toronto for taunting after dunking over Chris Boucher, per an NBA spokesman. #Spurs
— Tom Orsborn (@tom_orsborn) January 15, 2020
It would appear that, like the rest of us, the NBA could not find any footage suggesting DeRozan taunted Boucher or anything else that warranted getting T-ed up. Odds are Petraitis probably just saw his fidgity motions as he untangled himself and stood up and misread the situation. Fortunately, it didn’t end up affecting the outcome of the game.
That still leaves DeRozan with a team-high 5 technicals on the season, but the removal of this one saves him $3,000. (Players are fined $2,000 for each of their first give technials of the season, but it bumps up to $3,000 at the sixth.)