The National Basketball Association (NBA) has become a soft league with the referrers running the show not the players.

The NBA had a poor and outrageous play calling was put on display Nov. 6 when Carmelo Anthony of the Oklahoma City Thunder was ejected with a flagrant 2 foul. Fans, players and coaches were left scratching their heads in confusion.

Anthony was simply going up for a layup and made accidental contact with his elbow to Portland Trail Blazer Jusuf Nurkic. The layup attempt was a basketball move and there was no malicious intent in Anthony’s’ layup attempt. Anthony and teammates were shocked with the automatic ejection.

ESPN reporters caught up with head coach Billy Donovan to discuss the controversial call.

“I’ve never seen in the history of the game a guy get an and-1 play and then get ejected from the game,” Billy Donovan told reporters. “That’s probably something you’ve got to talk to the league about.”

The league over the past year has been cracking down on any sort of dirty plays. The NBA does not tolerate any sort of intentional fouls that are directed at the head nor do they tolerate any sort of unsafe basketball moves. However, the league and referrers are over using their power and are ejecting players at an inconsistent rate.

Basketball is loved for its high intensive play. Ask any basketball fan and they will tell you there’s a certain flow and pace that basketball has that no other sport has to offer. However having to review every play and trying to get every call right ruins the game. It destroys the flow that fans have come to love.

Russell Westbrook put it best after the game saying, “It’s nonsense, man, it don’t make any sense.”

The NBA should implement a no touch policy if they are going to ejected players for accidentally flying into someone in mid air. In sports there are accidents among players, penalizing them is just wrong and unjust.

Keep in mind that referrers are inconsistent on deciding which plays are deemed review-able. They also show inconsistency in what is deemed a flagrant 1 and what is a flagrant 2.

According to the NBA Rule book a flagrant foul penalty 1 is unnecessary contact committed by a player against an opponent and a flagrant foul penalty 2 is unnecessary and excessive contact committed by a player against an opponent.

Anthony’s actions do not fall into neither of these categories, however he was issued a flagrant foul penalty 2 and ejected in a winnable game because of an accidental hit to Nurkic’s head.

On Friday Nov. 3, Westbrook was given a flagrant foul 1 after he hit Jaylen Brown in the face while going for a jump ball. Westbrook noticed the inconsistency with the referring and what is to be considered a flagrant 2 foul. Westbrook was not shy in expressing his disappointment.

“Last game, tipped ball, against Celtics, I accidentally hit the guy in the face. Flagrant foul on me. It was an accident, but I hit him. I actually got hit in the face today. Nobody looks at it. Melo goes, hits Nurkic. They go review. It’s a bunch of bulls—,” Westbrook said as reported from an ESPN article.

Not only is the reviewing of multiple plays time consuming and flat out boring but they give teams an extra timeout. There is no doubt that players use their acting skills and ability to deceive the referrers to get a free timeout. In most case players and fans wait around for a call to be bogus.

The NBA needs to address this issue. The inconsistency and standing around waiting for the refs to make a call is getting old. While this may not be a heavily talked about issue, it is definitely one that needs to be addressed to avoid jeopardizing the integrity of the NBA and the game of basketball.