The Lakers will be without their scalding superstar for their next matchup on Monday night.
Luka Dončić, in the midst of a ridiculously hot stretch of scoring, has been suspended by the NBA for one game after earning his 16th technical foul of the season. Dončić earned the tech on Friday against the Nets in a back-and-forth with Brooklyn forward Ziaire Williams; the official announcement came down from the league on Saturday evening. He will not be in the building on Monday when the Wizards come to town.
Los Angeles has won 13 of its last 15 games as the team looks to strengthen its hold on the third seed in the West. Dončić missing any part of that pursuit is far from ideal. He is playing at an MVP level and many of the Lakers’ wins lately have come about due to his singular greatness. However, the schedule is forgiving in regards to his suspension—Washington is one of the tanking teams littering the NBA right now and will actively work to avoid winning on Monday. No win is a given in the Association, but there are far tougher opponents the Lakers could be seeing without Dončić.
The 27-year-old Slovenian superstar is averaging 33.7 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game this season. He’s been putting up special performances throughout the last month, including a 60-point masterpiece against the Heat and a 51-point outing against the Bulls.
Now that Dončić hit 16 techincal fouls, his next suspension will automatically trigger if he earns two more technical fouls over the last seven games of the season. The counter resets once the playoffs begin, so if Dončić can avoid picking up another pair of T’s then this will be his only suspension of the year.
More NBA from Sports Illustrated
Listen to SI’s NBA podcast, Open Floor, below or on Apple and Spotify. Watch the show on SI’s YouTube channel.