Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic accused an opponent of threatening his family while trash talking during a game on Saturday evening.
Doncic was getting ready to shoot free throws in his contest against the Orlando Magic.
While standing at the line, he was going back-and-forth with Magic center Goga Bitadze. But right before he took his shots, Doncic stopped his process and approached a referee and pointed to Bitadze.
Lip readers then noticed Doncic saying, ‘I don’t care if people talk s**t, but don’t talk about my family.’ He then turned to his opponent and said, ‘Imma f*** you up!’
Referees assessed double technical fouls to both Doncic and Bitadze for their interaction.
It’s a critical decision for Doncic, who now faces an automatic one-game suspension for accumulating technical fouls.
Luka Doncic has accused an Orlando Magic opponent of threatening his family
Doncic claims Goga Bitadze was saying these things in Serbian to avoid referee suspicion
Both players were assessed technical fouls, which could lead to a Doncic suspension
Following the game, Doncic explained further what was said to him – claiming Bitadze made the comments in Serbian, with officials unable to understand what was being spoken.
‘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 But, hopefully, it’ll get rescinded.’
In his own defense, Bitadze told ESPN, ‘I have all the respect for Luka and what he has done. I really respect everybody’s family. Where I come from, it’s really sacred and we really respect each other’s family. I would never directly say that.
‘He just said some inappropriate things in the Serbian language. I played in Serbia and I understand. I don’t know if he knew I understood what he said, so I just said it back. It was nothing towards his family or anybody. His family, I really, truly respect them.’
Bitadze continued: ‘What [Doncic] came out and said, I don’t think that’s the truth. I know that’s not the truth. I know what I said. … I apologize if it crossed the line.’
‘He said something about my mother, which is really inappropriate. We don’t say that stuff. … So I just said whatever he told me about my mother and said it back. That was pretty much it.’
Bitadze says that Doncic was saying things about his family first and he ‘said it back’
Following the game, the Lakers instantly lodged an appeal to waive Doncic’s suspension.
The Lakers are claiming in the appeal that Bitadze should have been issued a warning, or more, for his comments.
Los Angeles won the game on a buzzer-beating 3-point shot from guard Luke Kennard.
In the process, Lakers star LeBron James passed Boston Celtics legend Robert Parrish to break the all-time record for games played.
At 1,612 games, James now stands alone as the most tenured NBA player in history.
