ORLANDO — Luka Doncic alleged that Orlando Magic center Goga Bitadze said an expletive-laden statement in Serbian about Doncic’s family during the third quarter of the Lakers’ victory over the Magic on Saturday night, a moment which preempted Doncic’s 16th technical foul of the season.
“Obviously, I let my team down getting that last tech, but honestly, I wasn’t trying to (get the technical foul),” Doncic said after the game. “He said at the free throw (line that) he would (expletive) my whole family. And at some point, this is basketball court. At some point, I just can’t stand it. I got to stand up for myself. But I know I got to do better. My teammates, I know they have my back, so I let them down today.”
Moments after Bitadze and Doncic chirped at the free throw line while the Slovenian star shot a pair of free throws, both players were assessed technical fouls. In the postgame pool report, crew chief Marc Davis said that the pair of players earned technical fouls for “continual taunting towards one another” and “unsportsmanlike comments directed towards one another.”
Bitadze told ESPN and the Orlando Sentinel over the phone after the game that he heard Doncic say something about his mother in Serbian and that the back-and-forth that followed, claiming that he repeated the phrase back to the Lakers star. When Bitadze said the Serbian insult, curse-like phrase, it caused Doncic’s reaction, he said.
“If he feels like I said something too much or crossed the line, I apologize as a man,” Bitadze said. “I can take (accountability), but I didn’t say anything but what he said. What he came out and said, I don’t think that’s the truth. I know that’s not the truth.”
Bitadze also said postgame: “I have all the respect for Luka and what he has done. 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.”
If Doncic’s technical foul is not rescinded by the league, Doncic will have to serve a one-game suspension against the Detroit Pistons on Monday night – the penalty for 16 technical fouls. Doncic had not committed a foul in eight games; his 15th technical foul came against the Denver Nuggets 16 days ago, which also marked the last time the Lakers lost.
Said Lakers coach JJ Redick about Doncic’s technical foul: ‘We’ll obviously try to get that rescinded. I’m not sure what happened. I do know that there were certain things said in a language that the referees couldn’t understand, in references to Luka’s mom.”
Doncic said that he hopes that the league will rescind the technical foul, wiping away the 16th mark to bring him back to 15 technical fouls, an amount he has finished multiple seasons in his career with.
“I’m definitely hoping … Hopefully, it (gets) rescinded,” Doncic said.