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Luka Doncic will serve one-game suspension for techs on Monday

The NBA gave Luka Doncic one mulligan. The league wouldn’t grant the Lakers superstar a second.

Doncic will serve a one-game suspension because of technical foul accumulation, the NBA announced Saturday, sidelining him for Monday’s game against the Washington Wizards after he picked up his 16th technical foul of the season in the Lakers’ win over the Brooklyn Nets on Friday.

Doncic said he was trying to get away from Brooklyn’s Ziaire Williams when he pushed the Nets forward aside with 5:12 remaining in the third quarter. Doncic had just been called for an offensive foul while the Lakers were attempting to inbound the ball. Williams was shouting in Doncic’s direction. Doncic attempted to move past Williams and the 24-year-old from Lancaster then waved his arm behind him and slapped Doncic in the throat. Both were given technical fouls.

Doncic said referees told him his push was “exaggerated.”

“Which was obviously [not the case],” said Doncic, who scored 41 points with eight rebounds and three assists in the win.

This is the second time in a week that Doncic has faced the mandatory suspension after getting his 16th technical foul, but he avoided the fate after the NBA rescinded a technical he picked up against Orlando on March 21. The reversal kept Doncic available for the Lakers’ matchup with Eastern Conference-leading Detroit on March 23 in which Doncic scored 32 points, but missed the potential game-tying three at the buzzer of a tense 113-110 Lakers loss that ended a nine-game winning streak.

Monday’s game will likely not have the same drama.

The Wizards (17-56) have lost 17 of their last 18 games. The only win came against the Utah Jazz, another team that’s attempting to position itself for the lottery more than the playoffs. Washington will be without Trae Young (quad) and Anthony Davis (finger), the team’s two major midseason acquisitions.

With another bottom-feeding team coming to Crypto.com Arena, Doncic and the Lakers might actually benefit from resting the superstar. He played through left hamstring soreness Friday, and the Lakers (48-26) host the playoff-bound Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday. The days between Friday’s win and Monday’s game will be the Lakers’ first two-day break since the All-Star Game.

Doncic, the NBA’s leading scorer, has charged into the most valuable player conversation by helping lift the Lakers into third place in the Western Conference. He has scored 30 or more points in 12 consecutive games, the longest such streak for his career.

The Lakers have won 15 of their last 20 games with Doncic averaging 35.5 points per game during the span. With 102 steals on the season, including three against the Nets, Doncic also became the first Laker since Kobe Bryant in 2012-13 averaging 30 or more points per game with 100 or more total steals.

The Lakers could also be without guard Marcus Smart, who has missed the last three games because of a right ankle contusion. He also suffered a hip injury in a separate fall against Orlando, but he is showing improvement and remains day-to-day, Lakers coach JJ Redick said Friday.

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Doncic faces one-game ban after technical foul in Lakers win against Nets | Basketball News

Luka Doncic’s 41 points against Nets was soured by his 16th technical foul of the season, triggering a one-game ban.

Luka Doncic had a game-high 41 points and eight rebounds while also picking up his suspension-triggering 16th technical foul during the Los Angeles Lakers’ 116-99 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night.

Austin Reaves scored 15 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, while the Lakers finally pulled away from the young Nets to secure their 11th victory in 12 games. LeBron James added 14 points and eight assists for the Lakers in their return from a 5-1 road trip that has put them in third in the Western Conference standings.

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Josh Minott had 18 points and six rebounds in Brooklyn’s 10th consecutive loss. Nic Claxton and Ziaire Williams scored 16 points apiece while leading the Nets’ lively effort, but both starters were kept on the bench for the entire fourth quarter, along with Noah Clowney.

The young Nets still hung with the road-weary Lakers until the final minutes, erasing an early double-digit deficit and leading in the fourth quarter of their 20th loss in 22 games overall.

Doncic hit five 3-pointers during his 15th 40-point game of the season, but the Slovenian superstar found trouble when he and Williams were whistled for double technical fouls in the third quarter.

Williams was celebrating an offensive foul called against Doncic by gleefully screaming in Doncic’s personal space. When Doncic reached out to shove Williams’ arm, Williams responded with a backhand swipe across Doncic’s face.

Unless Doncic’s technical is rescinded, he will be suspended for a game. He already had a technical rescinded last week after he was whistled for a verbal altercation with Orlando’s Goga Bitadze.

Bronny James played alongside his famous father for the second straight game, with LeBron getting the first father-son assist in NBA history on Bronny’s 3-pointer in the second quarter. Bronny has been limited largely to mop-up action in his first two NBA seasons, but he has earned rotation minutes this week in the injury absence of Marcus Smart.

Bronny and Williams played together in high school at Sierra Canyon School in suburban Los Angeles.

Luka Doncic and Ziaire Williams in action.
Doncic received his 16th technical foul of the season after an altercation with Nets’ player Ziaire Williams, right, and will face a one-game suspension [Adam Pantozzi/Getty Images via AFP]

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