Video of LeBron James Ejected for Elbowing Isaiah Stewart Watched 12M Times

LeBron James was ejected from the Los Angeles Lakers-Detroit Pistons game on Sunday night and footage of the incident has been viewed more than 12 million times on Twitter.

Los Angeles' James appeared to strike Pistons center Isaiah Stewart in the face as they fought for a rebound, resulting in a cut near the latter's eye that drew blood.

Clips of the moment, which took place in the third quarter, show James' left elbow and hand appearing to make contact with Stewart's face.

Stewart attempted to retaliate but was held back by his teammates and other coaching staff more than once.

After an official review, both athletes were ejected from the game.

"It was a tough play with Isaiah," Pistons coach Dwane Casey said of the incident. "His eye got cracked all the way open and he was upset for a reason. I don't think James is a dirty player, but again, it got them going."

While James' Lakers teammate Anthony Davis defended him after the Lakers beat the Pistons 121-116

"Everyone in the league knows LeBron's not a dirty guy," Davis said. "In fact, when he knew he hit him, as soon as he did it, he looked back at him like, 'Oh, my bad. I didn't try to do it.'"

He added: "I've never, in 10 years, seen a player [Stewart] try to do that, what he tried to do.

"It's uncalled for, you got a cut above your eye, accidental, it wasn't like it was on purpose."

It is only the second time in James' 19-year NBA career that he has been ejected from a game.

Stewart's face was covered with blood after the incident. When James appeared to attempt to apologize to Stewart, the 20-year-old center flew into a rage and tried to lunge at his opponent.

James insisted that the strike was accidental but was ejected for a Flagrant 2 foul.

"Everybody did a great job trying to deescalate the situation," Davis said. "You never want it to get to that point like 17 years ago."

Seventeen years ago, one of the worst brawls in U.S. sporting history took place when the Pistons and Indiana Pacers spilled into the stands after a cup was thrown from the crowd.

Sunday night's fracas has racked up millions of views on social media at the time of publishing.

Clips of the incident have been shared by a number of sporting accounts with one tweet from Bleacher Report amassing 5.4 million views and one from sports journalist Rob Perez gaining 2.4 million.

Meanwhile, The Sporting News' official account amassed a further 5 million views with their clip of the moment.