Lakers’ Luka Doncic risks suspension during bad moment in Los Angeles originally appeared on The Sporting News. Click here to add Sports News as your go-to source.
The Los Angeles Lakers will need Luka Doncic to be cautious over the next month or so.
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Because if he doesn’t, he could be suspended for one game by the NBA, and an overtime stretch in the playoff seeding battle isn’t a good time for the Lakers to play a game without Doncic.
Here’s the thing: Luka gets a lot of technical fouls.
If a player receives 16 technicals in a regular season, it will result in an automatic one-game suspension for the team’s next game.
On Tuesday night, Doncic picked up his 14th technical foul.
The Lakers have 21 games left, so based on Doncic’s average skill content, he will easily reach 16 points before the end of the regular season.
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The Lakers have learned how to play without Doncic this season due to injuries, but it would be annoying to have Luka miss another game when it feels more controllable like this.
Doncic is clearly one of the most passionate people in the league who speaks to officials. He often gets frustrated, whether it’s calls he doesn’t receive on offense or calls that go against him on defense.
It’s difficult to completely change a player’s behavior, but with Doncic so close to a technical foul suspension, it might be worth it for the Lakers to at least see if they can tone him down a bit.
The Lakers certainly hope not to miss Doncic’s game again if it can be avoided.
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Note: This will reset when the playoffs roll around. So if Doncic doesn’t hit 16 points in the playoffs, he won’t have the same worries.
