The NBA rescinded the technical foul assessed to Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic late in the second quarter of Monday’s 138-117 win over the Miami Heat, the league announced on Tuesday, Nov. 4. The decision cut his season total from two technical fouls to one. The foul came with 1:12 left in the second quarter at Crypto.com Arena, after Doncic clapped in the direction of referee Jacyn Goble following a call he disagreed with. The NBA said the technical was rescinded upon league office review.
How Luka Doncic drew the technical against Miami
Luka Doncic scored 42 points with 13 assists in the win, and the technical came during a strong night for the Lakers guard. He reacted after he thought officials missed a foul, and Goble whistled him for the technical. The free throw that followed cut the Lakers’ lead to 72-67, and that point stands. The ruling only removes the foul from Doncic’s regular-season total, which is the number the league uses to decide when an automatic suspension applies.
The rescinded foul was the second for Luka Doncic in three games. He was whistled for his first technical of the season against the Golden State Warriors on Oct. 30, after going through his first four games without one. On Oct. 21, Doncic told reporters, “This season, I’m trying to not get techs.” The league’s decision gives him more room before the count reaches the level that brings a suspension.
Why the Luka Doncic ruling matters under NBA rules
A player receives an automatic one-game suspension and a 5,000 dollar fine if whistled for 16 technical fouls during the regular season. Every two additional technical fouls after that bring another one-game suspension. The rule put Doncic in a difficult spot last season. The NBA rescinded what would have been his 16th technical in March after an exchange with Orlando Magic center Goga Bitadze, which cleared him to play against Detroit. Days later he picked up another technical in a win over the Brooklyn Nets, and that one stood, so he had to sit out a game against Washington.
Through seven appearances this season, Luka Doncic is averaging 38.3 points, 8.1 assists and 8.0 rebounds per game. One Nov. 3 ranking of early MVP candidates placed him at the top of the list, ahead of Stephen Curry, Tyrese Maxey, Victor Wembanyama and Cooper Flagg. The league announced the reversal on Tuesday, and the NBA Official account posted that the technical foul at 1:12 in the second quarter on Nov. 2 against Miami had been rescinded upon league office review.
Technical fouls also carry fines that rise as the count grows, and the rescinded call saved Luka Doncic money as well as a mark on his record. Reports after the ruling said Doncic would have faced a 2,000 dollar fine had the call remained in place, and the reversal removed that fine along with the foul. The decision does not change the final score, and it does not take back the technical free throw that Miami was awarded during the game. The league office reviews technical fouls after games and can rescind them when the review shows the call was not warranted, which is what happened with the second-quarter call against Miami. For Doncic, the ruling keeps his count at one with most of the season still to play, and it leaves him a long way from the 16-foul line that brings a suspension. The Lakers guard has said he wants to keep that number low this season, and the league’s decision helps him do that.
What comes next for Luka Doncic and the Lakers
The Lakers returned to the court on Wednesday, Nov. 4, against the Sacramento Kings at 10 p.m. ET, one of 14 games on the NBA schedule that night after the league left Election Day clear. With the technical removed, Luka Doncic starts the rest of the season with one technical foul on his record. The Lakers will keep playing through a schedule that has them in Sacramento on Wednesday night, and the guard’s early scoring run has put him at the front of the early MVP talk.