The NBA has given the Lakers’ superstar Luka Doncic one more chance to avoid suspension for his 16th technical foul of the season, which was assessed to him during their recent 105-104 win over the Magic.
According to ESPN’s NBA insider Shams Charania, the league has decided to allow Doncic’s availability for their next fixture, which is against the Pistons on Monday night.
“The NBA has rescinded Lakers star Luka Doncic’s 16th technical foul, allowing him to play in Monday’s road game against the Detroit Pistons,” wrote Charania on X.
Doncic was assessed his 16th technical foul after a heated back-and-forth of trash-talk with Goga Bitadze during the game that allegedly involved Bitadze saying he would “f–k” Doncic’s whole family. Bitadze later refuted the allegations, saying it was Doncic who initiated the trash-talk.
The Slovenian superstar finished the game with 33 points, eight assists, five rebounds, four steals, and one block. He shot 12-30 from the floor (40.0 FG%) and 3-13 from beyond the arc (23.1 3P%).
Heading to Detroit to face the shorthanded Pistons, who are currently playing without Cade Cunningham, the Lakers were also at risk of losing their superstar for that fixture due to a one-game suspension.
While the Lakers ended up having the last laugh with the win and their superstar’s suspension getting rescinded, the league also admitted three crucial mistakes involving Deandre Ayton that have arguably cost the Magic the game.
According to the league’s L2M report on the Lakers vs. Magic game, the officials made three incorrect decisions that could have been detrimental to what ended up being a one-point loss for Orlando.
Two defensive three-second calls were missed on Deandre Ayton in the final two minutes. But the most crucial mistake was allowing Deandre Ayton to go to the free-throw line with 5.5 seconds left in the game on a foul that wasn’t supposed to be assessed to the Magic’s Tristan da Silva.
Subsequently, Ayton went 1-2 at the line and scored a crucial point to allow what would’ve been a game-tying shot from Luke Kennard to turn into a game-winner instead.
Thus, the Lakers not only earned the win but they also managed to avoid losing their superstar to an automatic one-game suspension for his 16th technical foul of the season. A win-win for the Lakers on both sides.
This victory pushed their winning streak to nine games as the Lakers improved to 46-25, third in the West, 2.5 games clear of the Rockets (43-27), who are in fourth place.
A one-game suspension to Doncic would have given the Rockets a chance to come closer in the race, but since his technical foul has been rescinded, it is almost certain that the Lakers will beat the shorthanded Pistons.
With 11 games left in the regular season, the contest for the third and fourth seed (home court advantage in playoffs) becomes increasingly intense in the West. It will be interesting to see if any team can dislodge the Lakers from locking in the third seed at this point.
