By John Rammas/ irammas@eurohoops.net
Mike James was ejected from AS Monaco’s meeting with Le Mans in Antares on Sunday.
The 35-year-old combo guard had 16 points with 4/8 field goals to go with six assists, five rebounds, and two steals over 22:42. Despite his exit late in the fourth quarter of the Round 8 contest, his side prevailed to improve to 7-1 in the 2025-26 Regular Season of France’s Betclic Elite.
James was furious after a no-call on a foul by Johnny Berhanemeskel, whose defense went way beyond the allowed space to placing completely under the experienced player of the team coached by Vassilis Spanoulis. He was tossed following consecutive technical fouls for extremely heated protesting to the referee, Yohan Rosso.
“UNSPORTSMANLIKE!!!!!!” he wondered in caps, in a later post on X, “But if I get hurt, then what?”
“All that cheating and still lost,” added James.
The Most Valuable Player of the 2023-24 edition of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, two years after taking his talents to La Roca Team, started his 12th EuroLeague journey with 17.8 points, 6.6 assists, 3.2 rebounds, and 0.7 steals over 11 appearances as a starter for Spanoulis. Launching his fifth season in the top-tier division of France, he has 22.0 points per game over four appearances.
Besides a lengthy and successful career in the Old Continent, James made his way to 58 NBA games, spread between the 2017-18 and 2020-21 seasons, and his spells at the Phoenix Suns, Brooklyn Nets, and New Orleans Pelicans.