No love lost between Luka Doncic and refs: Why Lakers superstar will remain in the firing line until he stops whining

Luka Doncic is, by all means, one of the most talented players in NBA history. He's a joy to watch when he's on the court, and his ability to control the tempo of the game is among the all-time greats.

However, nobody's perfect, not even the former Real Madrid star. He's drawn heavy criticism for his lack of commitment on defense, struggles to get and stay in shape, and his behavior towards the officials.

Some reports even claimed that the Dallas Mavericks were worried about those things, leading them to shock the world and trade him to the LA Lakers this season.

So far, Lakers fans have gotten the full Luka Doncic experience. He's had some impressive performances, and the team is now the third seed in the Western Conference. However, his ejection in Tuesday's loss to the OKC Thunder also showed the not-so-good parts of his game.

With the Lakers up one and nearly eight minutes left in the game, referee J.T. Orr issued Doncic his second technical foul of the night. He scored a bucket and then turned back to talk, and while he claimed that he was talking to a trash-talking fan, the referee thought otherwise:

“I never got a fan ejected, never, but if you’re gonna talk, I’m gonna talk back like always,” he said. “That had nothing to do with the ref.”

Orr had previously awarded him a technical foul for complaining about a no-call after Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt was hit in an earlier play. Doncic then claimed that it was 'tough' to see the referee kill his team's chances with the ejection:

“It was tough,” Dončić said. “We were right there. We fought the whole game, we were down eight at halftime and we came back in the third quarter. We were fighting, man, so it was tough to see this kind of situation happen.”

Luka Doncic needs to do better

Unfortunately, this isn't the first time this has happened. As of October 2023, Doncic had already been ejected three times for double technical fouls.

He has 14 technical fouls this season alone, meaning he's just two away from a one-game suspension. Considering he missed a big chunk of the season with an injury, this is even more worrisome.

Back in June 2024, ESPN insider Ramona Shelbourne claimed that Mavericks coach Jason Kidd and even some of his teammates urged Doncic to stop complaining so much:

“In the three seasons he has coached Doncic, [Jason] Kidd has told him several truths: that he needed to stop making enemies of officials with persistent whining; that he needed to give a more consistent effort on defense; and that he needed to get in better shape to be at his best when his team needed him,” Ramona Shelburne wrote.

Fellow insider Brian Windhorst also put him on blast after his ejection in the NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics. Per Windhorst, teammates, countrymen, and coaches literally begged him to stop complaining.

Overall, Doncic has logged 86 technical fouls over his eight-year career in the league, so he's already developed a bad reputation with the officials. As good a player as he is, it's bound to keep costing him at some point.

He's not going to get the benefit of the doubt anymore, and he's not going to get a favorable whistle like most superstars do. That could be crucial again in the postseason when the game becomes more physical.

The Mavs weren't so sure about him

Shortly after the trade, Mavs owner Patrick Dumont seemed to take a big shot at Doncic, questioning his character and work ethic:

"“If you look at the greats in the league, the people you and I grew up with — [Michael] Jordan, [Larry] Bird, Kobe [Bryant], Shaq [O’Neal] — they worked really hard, every day, with a singular focus to win," Dumont said. "And if you don’t have that, it doesn’t work. And if you don’t have that, you shouldn’t be part of the Dallas Mavericks."

Needless to say, it still takes a lot to trade a player of Doncic's caliber, especially just months after making the NBA Finals.

As questionable as this move was at the moment (and still is), Doncic needs to be more in control of his emotions, or he'll continue to be his own worst enemy.