NEW YORK -- Rehabbing Golden State Warriors big man DeMarcus Cousins was ejected from Friday night's 128-100 win against the New York Knicks after picking up a technical foul from the bench in the first quarter.
Referee Scott Foster ejected Cousins, who was sitting in street clothes, from the bench after warning both the injured player and New York's Enes Kanter about their verbal commentary.
A source told ESPN's Marc Spears that Cousins and Kanter were talking trash to each other on the court during workouts hours before the game. The source said the NBA got wind of this and let the referees know to keep an eye on the situation.
"Kanter and Cousins were both warned prior to the ejection about talking to the bench," Foster told a pool reporter after the game. "Cousins took exception to the ruling and during the timeout he was ejected for one technical foul for unsportsmanlike conduct."
Two technical fouls lead to an automatic ejection. But Foster said in this case his crew felt one technical foul "sufficed" to eject a player who was not in the game, and that the T came about more for Cousins' tone than his words.
"I did check with Scott [Foster]," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after the game. "He said he had warned [Cousins], I think he was jawing with maybe Kanter, I think, 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."
Cousins, who is recovering from a torn left Achilles, has been traveling with the Warriors throughout the season but isn't scheduled to be back on the floor for several months.
He recently has started practicing more with the rest of his teammates instead of just the individual work he's been doing since training camp began. There is still no target date for his return, but Warriors personnel are pleased with what they have seen.
Cousins signed a one-year deal with the Warriors this summer after spending the past year and a half with the New Orleans Pelicans.