New Orleans Pelicans center DeMarcus Cousins is one of the most skilled players at his position and an All-Star to boot. He’s also well known for his penchant for drawing technical fouls, having led the league in the category last season and in other seasons as well. Cousins picked up his first tech of the new season last night, but didn’t think it was warranted.

William Guillory of The Times-Picayune has more from Cousins, who explained his position on the call after last night’s 103-91 loss in Memphis:

New Orleans Pelicans center DeMarcus Cousins was assessed his first technical foul of the 2017-18 season in Wednesday’s 103-91 season-opening loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.

Cousins–who finished the game with 28 points, 10 rebounds and seven blocks–said that his negative reaction was caused by a fan sitting courtside at Wednesday’s game that “dropped a couple f-bombs (and) flipped me off.”

The three-time All-Star verbalized his frustration with the fan’s actions and was assessed a technical foul with 50 seconds remaining in the game.

“That was pretty bogus,” Cousins said. “The ref sat there and heard (the fan) speaking to me in a very nasty way. I shouldn’t have responded to it, but I’m a human being and I’m also a grown man. I’m not going to let another person just disrespect me.

…

Cousins also received 17 technical fouls in 2015-16.

“I felt he should’ve handled it, he decided not to,” Cousins said. “I look forward to speaking to the league about it.”