The NBA rescinded the second technical foul Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic received during Tuesday night’s loss to the Thunder.
The league made the announcement Wednesday, less than 24 hours after Doncic was ejected in the fourth quarter of the 136-120 loss in Oklahoma City.
Los Angeles led 108-107 with 7:40 left when Doncic was whistled for his second technical foul of the game by referee J.T. Orr. Doncic later said he was trash-talking with a courtside fan when Orr thought the Lakers star’s ire was directed at him, leading to the ejection.
The Thunder finished the game on a 29-12 run to close out the win.
“I never got a fan ejected,” Doncic said Tuesday night, explaining how he will often engage with opposing fans without asking arena security to intervene. “Never. But if [the fan is] going to talk, I’m going to talk back, like always. That had nothing to do with the ref. So I didn’t really understand.”
Orr also gave Doncic a tech in the third quarter, when Doncic argued that a foul call was missed when Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt was hit on the previous possession.
Crew chief Tony Brothers was asked about both technical fouls during a pool report after the game.
For the first, which came with 4:02 remaining in the third quarter, Brothers said Doncic “directed profanity at a game official.” For the second, Brothers said Doncic “looked directly at an official and used vulgar language.”
The fan, Jeremy Price, who referred to himself as “The Courtside Tattoo Dude,” told ESPN that Doncic was shouting at him and not the referee.
“During the game within the game, I mentioned that he was short [on his shot] and he missed it, and he turned around and he shot an expletive back and J.T. happened to see it and, at that point, T’d him up,” Price said Tuesday night.
Price, who said he also jawed with Doncic last year during the Thunder’s playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks, said Orr “possibly” could have been mistaken as to whom Doncic was addressing.
“That’s probably why he picked up that technical, to be quite honest,” Price said.
The ejection changed the course of a competitive game between the Lakers, ranked No. 3 in the Western Conference, and Oklahoma City, which boasts the No. 1 overall record in the league at 65-14.
Doncic and the Lakers are back in action Wednesday night, when the star returns to Dallas to face the Mavericks for the first time since the February blockbuster trade between the teams.
Information from ESPN’s Dave McMenamin was used in this report.
