{"id":201117,"date":"2026-03-22T05:55:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T05:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/201117\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T05:55:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T05:55:14","slug":"magics-goga-bitadze-lakers-luka-doncic-trade-tough-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/201117\/","title":{"rendered":"Magic’s Goga Bitadze, Lakers’ Luka Doncic trade tough talk"},"content":{"rendered":"

During the third quarter of Saturday\u2019s game between the Magic<\/a> and Lakers<\/a> at Kia Center<\/a>, technical fouls were assessed to Orlando<\/a> center Goga Bitadze<\/a> and Los Angeles star Luka Doncic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until after the game, however, that more context was provided about the back-and-forth interaction between the two players.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the podium after the Lakers won by one point in the final moments, 105-104, thanks to a Luke Kennard 3-pointer, Doncic claimed Bitadze had choice words in Serbian for him about his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said at the free throw, he would (expletive) my whole family,\u201d said Doncic who scored 33 points on the road. \u201cAnd at some point, this is basketball \u2026 At some point, I just can\u2019t stand it. I gotta stand up for myself. But I know I gotta do better.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a phone interview with the Orlando Sentinel and ESPN after Doncic spoke to the media, Bitadze shared his side of the story when he was asked about the interaction.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have all the respect for Luka and what he has done,\u201d Bitadze said. \u201cAnd I really respect everybody\u2019s family. Where I come from, it\u2019s really sacred and we really respect each other\u2019s 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\u2019t 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 and that\u2019s pretty much it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a fan of his game and don\u2019t want to look like it was directed to his family, or anything,\u201d Bitadze added. \u201cIt 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\u2019t say anything but what he said. What he came out and said, I don\u2019t think that\u2019s the truth. I know that\u2019s not the truth. So, I know what I said and that was pretty much it in the heat of the moment. So like I said, some things were said, and I apologize if it crossed the line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bitadze was then asked to clarify what Doncic said to him first and what he subsequently repeated back to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, he said something about my mother,\u201d Bitadze said. \u201cWhich, it\u2019s really inappropriate. We don\u2019t say that stuff during the game. So, I don\u2019t know if he knew that I understood his language or not. So I just said whatever he told me or (about) my mother (and) said it back. That was pretty much it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The technical foul served as Doncic\u2019s 16th of the regular season, meaning he\u2019ll get suspended for one game without pay.<\/p>\n

Dan Woike of The Athletic reported that the Lakers have already appealed the technical foul. If the team loses the appeal, Doncic will be suspended for Monday\u2019s game against the Pistons.<\/p>\n

NBA crew chief Marc Davis<\/a> shared with a pool reporter after the game why double technicals were issued for Doncic and Bitadze in the third quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth Doncic and Bitadze were both assessed technical fouls for their continual taunting of one another,\u201d Davis said<\/a>. \u201cThey 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bitadze\u2019s technical was his fifth of the season. Bitadze recorded nine points, seven rebounds and five assists in 18 minutes Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy teammates, I know they have my back, so I let them down today,\u201d Doncic said about the moment. \u201cBut hopefully, it gets rescinded.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Magic host Bitadze\u2019s former team, the Pacers, on Monday, searching to snap a four-game losing streak.<\/p>\n

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During the third quarter of Saturday\u2019s game between the Magic and Lakers at Kia Center, technical fouls were…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[114,2295,139,141,1239,140,109,76046,110],"class_list":["post-201117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-latest-headlines","tag-nba","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-magic","tag-orlando-news","tag-social","tag-social-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}