DENVER — Lakers star Luka Doncic is one technical away from receiving an automatic one-game suspension after he picked up his 15th technical of the season in a 120-113 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night.
Doncic, who had 27 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, was charged with a technical with 5:43 left in the second quarter, just moments after he missed a jumper and Denver’s Jamal Murray responded with a three for a 49-39 lead.
“Just because I yelled at him, I guess. That’s what he said,” Doncic said about his interaction with referee Ed Malloy. “But I heard three other players say the exact same sentence and didn’t get a tech. And that’s my problem, you know, I was trying not to talk at all. This is the first thing I said — no warning or nothing.”
Malloy said after the game that Doncic was issued a technical for “using profanity directed towards a referee.”
The NBA automatically suspends any player who receives 16 technical fouls during a season. Doncic has reached the threshold twice in his career, but the NBA rescinded the 16th technical each time, allowing him to avoid suspension.
Doncic wasn’t making any guarantees about whether he’ll be able to avoid another technical.
“We’ll see,” he said. “Can’t predict the future.”
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