Luka Dončić is one of the premier trash talkers in the NBA, whether it’s with players on the court or fans in the stands. However, things may have crossed a line on Saturday.
During the third quarter of the Lakers’ game against the Magic, Luka and Orlando center Goga Bitadze had a back-and-forth that clearly left Luka frustrated. He approached a referee in an attempt to get them to address the situation but ultimately to no avail.
After Luka’s free throw, he said something back to Goga while backpedaling down the court and the refs handed double technicals to the pair of them. The technical carried more weight than normal for Luka and the Lakers as it was his 16th of the season, triggering an automatic one-game suspension.
But even more than that, it was what led up to the technical that had Luka most upset. In his postgame presser, Luka revealed the rather graphic words that Goga said to him.
“Obviously, I let my team down getting that last tech,” Luka said. “But honestly, I wasn’t trying to. He said at the free throw [line] he would f— my whole family and, at some point — this is a basketball court. At some point, I have 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. But, hopefully, it’ll get rescinded.”
It goes without saying that this is pretty vile stuff from Goga. Luka noted that it was all said in Serbian, which meant the refs did not understand it and thus did not issue any warning or technical to Goga prior to the eventual double technical.
In the defense of Goga, he did provide a comment to ESPN and the Orlando Sentinel after the game, saying he “never directly say that” about Luka’s family.
You can interpret that as you wish and determine whether he’s telling the truth, but it also feels like a quote that was carefully worded, particularly with the choice of the word “directly.” If Goga’s side of things is true, then that means Luka just made up the situation and the comment?
As is often the case, the truth likely lies somewhere in the middle, but it feels unlikely this situation was just fabricated.
Immediately after the game, the Lakers appealed the technical, as reported by multiple beat writers, on the basis that Goga should have been issued a warning, or more, for his comments.
Setting aside the ramifications of the technical and the appeal, just on a human level, this is really gross stuff if it’s true. How is anyone getting this worked up over a basketball game? How do you get so upset that you stoop to this level?
I suppose I need to add the word “allegedly” in those quotes, given Goga’s comments, but he’s not even really denying that things were said, but taking the stance that Luka may have said it first.
It’s unlikely that the NBA punishes Goga in any sort of way because it’ll be a he-said-she-said sort of situation. Unless they can get clear audio and a Serbian interpreter, there won’t be much done in that regard. But, at the very least, Luka’s technical should be rescinded.
Given what was said to him beforehand and the refs unwillingness or inability to punish Goga, I think his reaction is understandable. Even if it isn’t rescinded, I can’t really fault Luka for this one either.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
