Los Angeles Lakers superstar Luka Dončić picked up a technical on Saturday against the Orlando Magic after getting into a back-and-forth with Goga Bitadze.
It was Dončić’s 16th technical of the season. If it is not rescinded, the All-Star will have to serve a one-game suspension when the Lakers play the Detroit Pistons on Monday.
During his postgame media session with reporters after the Lakers beat the Magic on a Luke Kennard 3-pointer with 0.6 seconds left in regulation, Dončić said Bitaze told him he would “f— my whole family.”
“Obviously, I let my team down getting that last tech. But honestly, I wasn’t trying to. He said at the free throw that he would f— my whole family,” Dončić said. “And at some point, this is a basketball court, and at some point, I can’t stand … I’ve got to stand up for myself. But I know I’ve got to do better. My teammates, I know they have my back. So, I let them down today. But hopefully, it’ll get rescinded.”
The Lakers have already reached out to the NBA office to get Dončić’s technical rescinded.
Bitadze, in a phone interview with ESPN and the Orlando Sentinel, said Dončić swore at him in Serbian first, then merely repeated the same curse back.
“I have all the respect for Luka and what he has done,” Bitadze said. “And I really respect everybody’s family. Where I come from, it’s really sacred and we really respect each other’s families, and I would never directly say that. He just said some inappropriate things in the Serbian language, which, I played in Serbia, I understand. I don’t know if he knew I understood what he said. So, I just said it back. And it was nothing towards his family or anybody. His family, I really, truly respect them.
“He said something about my mother, which, it’s really inappropriate. We don’t say that stuff during the game. … So I just said whatever he told me or [about] my mother [and] said it back. It was just in the heat of the moment. I heard what he said, and I felt like I had to respond the same way. So, from my side, if he feels like I said something too much or crossed the line, I apologize as a man. I can take [accountability], but I didn’t say anything, but what he said.”
Crew chief Marc Davis, in a pool report conducted after the game, explained why the technicals were called on Dončić and Bitadze.
“Dončić and Bitadze were both assessed technical fouls for their continual taunting of one another,” Davis said. “They were both warned to cease their comments directed towards one another between the two free throws. After the free throw and as the ball entered the frontcourt, they were both correctly assessed technical fouls for their unsportsmanlike comments directed towards one another.”
In his first full season with the Lakers, Dončić leads the NBA in points per game. He’s averaging 33.4 points per game.
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