ORLANDO, Fla. — When the Lakers left Kia Center on Saturday night after their victory over the Magic, there were concerns whether star guard Luka Doncic would be available for their next game after picking up his 16th technical foul.
But an announcement from the league office on Sunday put an end to those worries.
The NBA rescinded the technical foul Doncic picked up after a verbal back-and-forth with Magic center Goga Bitadze during the third quarter after Doncic split a pair of free throws.
The league’s decision, which puts Doncic back at 15 technical fouls for the season, allows Doncic to be available for Monday’s road game against the Pistons at Little Caesars Arena.
By league rule, players have to serve a one-game suspension if assessed 16 technical fouls during the regular season.
The Lakers are on a nine-game winning streak entering Monday, their longest stretch of consecutive wins since the 2019-20 season.
Doncic and Bitadze had different stories about what transpired that led to the double technical fouls.
“He said at the free throw, he would f— my whole family,” Doncic recalled, adding that Bitadze was speaking in Serbian. “And at some point, this is basketball. At some point, I just can’t stand it. I gotta stand up for myself. But I know I gotta do better. My teammates, I know they have my back, so I let them down. But hopefully, it [gets] rescinded.”
Bitadze told ESPN and the Orlando Sentinel in a phone call that Doncic said something “really inappropriate” in Serbian about Bitadze’s family first, and that he “just said it back.”
Bitadze, who’s Georgian, played professionally in Serbia from 2016-19 before being drafted by the Pacers in 2019.
“It was nothing toward his family or anybody,” Bitadze said. “His family, I really, truly respect them, and that’s pretty much it. I’m a fan of his game and don’t want to look like it was directed to his family or anything. It was just in the heat of the moment. I heard what he said ,and I felt like I had to respond the same way. So, from my side, if he feels like I said something too much or crossed the line, I apologize as a man. I can take [accountability], but I didn’t say anything but what he said.”
Bitadze added, “I just said whatever he told me or [about] my mother [and] said it back. That was pretty much it.”
In a postgame pool report interview, crew chief Marc Davis said both were assessed technical fouls for “their continual taunting of one another.”
“They were both warned to cease their comments directed toward one another between the two free throws,” Davis said. “After the free throw and as the ball entered the frontcourt, they were both correctly assessed technical fouls for their unsportsmanlike comments directed toward one another.”
The NBA’s ruling marks another close call for Doncic, who’s nearly been suspended in previous seasons because of an accumulation of technical fouls.
Dončić previously finished a season with 15 technical fouls three times in his NBA career (2020-23).
He finished with 13 techs in 50 games last season with the Mavericks and Lakers after having 13 in 2023-24 with the Mavericks.
While playing for the Mavericks, Dončić narrowly avoided a one-game suspension in the season finale of the 2021-22 season after the NBA office rescinded his 16th technical foul. Dončić also picked up a 16th technical foul late in the 2022-23 season, which was also rescinded, resulting in him not having to serve a one-game suspension.
