Luka Doncic's ejection proved to be a pivotal swing point in the Los Angeles Lakers' loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night. What was a one-point game at the time turned into an OKC romp as they asserted again that any path to the NBA Finals runs through their gym. It was a very convincing victory in what could be a preview of an intense Western Conference playoff series but the controversial ejection got most of the discussion in the postgame. All because some tattooed courtside dude successfully elicited a reaction with taunts.
The consensus seems to be that Doncic was chirping back at a fan who was chirping at him and the officials thought he was chirping at them and awarded him with a second technical foul. Through that lens, the take from Thunder coach Mark Daigneault doesn't make the most sense but then again he may not have been working with all the information.
"There should be a line," Daigneault said when asked about the ejection. "If they cross it, there should be a technical, and you get what you tolerate. So,I give that crew a lot of credit for the way they managed it."
“There should be a line. If they cross it, there should be a technical, and you get what you tolerate. So, I give that crew a lot of credit for the way they managed it” 🤡 pic.twitter.com/WCDFzLmpcJ
— Showtime Luka (@showtimeluka) April 9, 2025
The good news for the Lakers is that Doncic will have to do a lot more than just swear in the direction of a fan or an official in the postseason to get ejected. And up until that point they were matching the Thunder point for point on the road. So it's a loss but not a total loss as they maintained their hold of the No. 3 seed in the West.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Thunder Coach Mark Daigneault Weighs in On Luka Doncic's Controversial Ejection.