The NBA officially canceled a technical fault entitled Tuesday, the star of Los Angeles Lakers Luka Dončić announced the League on Wednesday. The fault, which was the second in Dončić’s match, led Dončić’s ejection during the defeat of the Lakers against the Thunder of Oklahoma City.
Dončić was struck by the fault after a back and forth with a fan of the court in the fourth quarter. An official heard a comment from Dončić and wrongly thought that he had intended himself.
A swimming pool report after the game confirmed that Dončić’s second fault was evaluated by referee JT Orr because “he looked directly at an official language and used vulgar language”. Orr also gave Dončić his first technology due to blasphemies aimed at an official.
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But Dončić and the fan of courtsid Thunder both argued that the comment was intended for the fan, not to Orr. The fan, Jeremy Price, told Dave McMenamin d’Espn that he had heckled Dončić, and that the Lakers star had shot an explanive.
Dončić said the comment “had nothing to do with the referees”.
The ejection crushed the momentum of the Lakers: before Dončić left the field, the game was incredibly close. But the Lakers began to collapse throughout the fourth quarter, the Thunder withdrawing for a 136-120 victory.
Wednesday should be another dramatic evening for the Lakers, while Dončić will return to play the Dallas Mavericks for the first time since the superproduction trade which sent him to Los Angeles.