The Los Angeles Lakers attempted to get Luka Doncic’s 16th technical foul rescinded, and it was successful, as the NBA announced on Sunday afternoon. That means Doncic will not have to serve an automatic one-game suspension during Monday night’s game against the Detroit Pistons, although he is still one away from it happening.
After picking up his 15th technical against the Denver Nuggets, Doncic was on his best behavior to avoid getting a 16th and the suspension that comes with it. Doncic went eight straight games without a technical and was playing at an MVP level during that time, leading L.A. to eight straight wins.
While the Lakers were able to extend their win streak to nine on a Luke Kennard game-winner to beat the Orlando Magic, unfortunately Doncic finally picked up that 16th technical. When he was at the free throw line, the Slovenian star and Magic big man Goga Bitadze appeared to be talking trash back and forth in Serbian.
Something that Bitadze said set Doncic off, and despite a warning from the officials, they two continued to jaw back and forth while running down the court after the free throws. That led to the double technicals, which was Doncic’s 16th of the year.
After the game, Doncic revealed that that he felt Bitadze crossed the line by talking about his family, something the big man from Georgia refuted. Because of what was said though, the Lakers appealed Doncic’s technical to the league to try to avoid the one-game suspension, and that is what happened.
Doncic will now be available for the Lakers’ big matchup against the Pistons, who are the No. 1 overall seed in the Eastern Conference. They will be without Cade Cunningham, but having Doncic available will be big as he has been playing at an extremely high level in recent weeks.
JJ Redick backs Luka Doncic in MVP discussion
Doncic hasn’t received much recognition for his outstanding play, but one person who believes he belongs in the MVP discussion is Lakers head coach JJ Redick.
“It’s a special run that he’s on,” Redick recently said. “We’ve seen all-time greats like him go on these runs, and you just kind of gotta embrace it and enjoy the moment. Whatever we are, 20 games over .500, and obviously he’s missed time, AR’s missed time, LeBron’s missed time. To the MVP point, we would not be anywhere near the position we’re in without him having the season that he’s having. Particularly of late, he’s dominating right now.”
If you love our reporting, choose LakersNation.com as a preferred source on Google.
