The NBA announced Saturday that Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Dončić has been suspended one game for accumulating too many technical fouls. Dončić received his 16th technical foul of the season on Friday during the Lakers’ win over the Brooklyn Nets. He will miss their game on Monday against the Washington Wizards.
Under NBA rules, a player or coach is automatically suspended without pay for one game once he receives his 16th technical foul during a regular season. For every two additional technical fouls received during that regular season, the player or coach will be automatically suspended without pay for an additional game.
Dončić was given his most recent technical after he was jawing with Nets forward Ziaire Williams with just over five minutes to play in the third quarter on Friday. As Williams began to walk away, Dončić gave him a slight push in the back. Williams responded by swinging his arm and catching Dončić on the chin. Both players were assessed technical fouls.
“[Williams] was yelling in my face — three times,” said Dončić, who finished with 41 points, eight rebounds and three assists. “I just wanted to get out of there. It’s a double tech, of course. What can I say? I didn’t even talk. I just wanted to get out of there. And they said I pushed, my push was ‘exaggerated,’ which [it] was obviously not. And I don’t know what else to tell you.”
Dončić was nearly suspended earlier this month when he was given a technical after getting into it with Goga Bitadze of the Orlando Magic. That technical was eventually rescinded by the league, however, following an appeal by the Lakers.
While the Lakers will miss Dončić, who has been playing some of the best basketball of his career lately, they should have no trouble taking care of the lowly Wizards without him. At 48-26, the Lakers are trying to hold off the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves for the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference. They are 1½ games up on the Nuggets and 2½ games up on the Timberwolves and own the tiebreaker over both clubs.
Dončić is leading the league in scoring at 33.7 points per game, while adding 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists per night. He has appeared in 62 games this season and, once he returns from suspension, must play in three of the Lakers’ final seven games to be eligible for postseason awards.
