Tuesday night's Western Conference showdown between the Oklahoma City Thunder and LA Lakers appeared to be heading toward a down-to-the-wire nail-bitter, until Luka Doncic was ejected after picking up his second technical foul in the 4th quarter.
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In view of how this happened, with 7:40 left in the game, Luka sunk a close-range shot to give the Lakers a 108-107 lead.
However, upon making the go-ahead basket, the Slovenian star may have said some bad words directed at a heckling fan in the crowd.
Allegedly heard saying, 'F*** you b****' which was an evident response to a fan yelling out 'short' during his jump shot.
Luka Doncic was ejected after picking up a second technical foul. pic.twitter.com/NGL3O3rgfy
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 9, 2025
Apparently referee J.T. Orr, who had actually called Luka for a previous technical foul in the 3rd quarter, thought the profane language was directed at him. And as a result he hit Luka with his second tech, ultimately ejecting him from the game.
Luka Doncic gets thrown out of the game for his second tech for mocking a fan. But the referee JT Orr thinks he’s talking to him.
Did the referee have a guilty conscious? pic.twitter.com/GOG5Rb0OLa
— Dr. Lös Real Polyamorous Tantric Sex Guru (@LosRealAli) April 9, 2025
Lakers commentators, John Ireland & Michal Thompson, were heard on the broadcast upset over the egregious call: "This is one of the worst pieces of officiating I have ever seen and I have done this for 25 years!"
👀 Luka Doncic ejected after being assessed his second technical foul on this play!
Did he deserve it? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/0RbaXBO9vp
— Eurohoops (@Eurohoopsnet) April 9, 2025
Undoubtedly, this changed the complexion of the game, as the Thunder finished on a 29-12 run, winning 136-120.
During the postgame interviews, LeBron James noted the ejection completely affected the ending.
"The game was weird as h*** after that moment," James said.
Following the game, fans expressed their displeasure with the officiating.
And there's even some conspiracies swirling around that Orr had made an effort to get Luka thrown out.
The same official that ejected Luka Doncic walked directly up to Shai on the previous possession, covered his mouth to say something, then after Luka Doncic scores on the other end, he makes sure that he is in between he & a fan who had been talking trash all game.
SHARE THIS!! pic.twitter.com/d2OvepPJS5
— HeroOfTheDay (@Hero_OfThe_Day) April 9, 2025
Luka spoke to reporters after the loss, confirming that he was only talking back to the fan and not any of the refs.
"I've never got a fan ejected, Never. But if he's going to talk, I'm gonna talk back like always," Luka said postgame. "That had nothing to do with the ref, so I really didn't understand."
However, in the referee pool report conducted after the game over the two technical fouls on Luka, both of them were listed as dialogue directed at an official.
Crew chief Tony Brothers was asked about the reasoning behind the second technical specifically.
"He looked directly at an official and used vulgar language."
The pool report, conducted by Cliff Brunt of the AP, has JT Orr saying that Luka Doncic directed profanity toward an official twice, leading to the two technicals that earned him an ejection. pic.twitter.com/fh49up0SBU
— Joel Lorenzi (@JoelXLorenzi) April 9, 2025
Due to the apparent big misunderstanding, the fan who was seen exchanging words with Luka has been identified and dubbed the hero of the game.
The Lakers were up by 1 when Luka Doncic got ejected for talking to a fan.
Give this dude the game ball 🤣 pic.twitter.com/1g1Q7wlEI8
— NBA Memes (@NBAMemes) April 9, 2025
My picture with the man who got Luka Doncic ejected. 💀 https://t.co/HKnlkwGRtk pic.twitter.com/fHGBQAS2XC
— Addam M. Francisco (@SuaveCEO_) April 9, 2025
Following the win for the Thunder, they have improved to a league-best 65-14 record, 13.0 games ahead of the No. 2 seeded Houston Rockets. While the Lakers still currently hold onto the No. 3 seed with a 48-31 record, yet are only separated by 1.0 games with four 47-32 record teams (LA Clippers, Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors, Memphis Grizzlies) in the highly-contested Western Conference standings.
LOL— Here’s Mark Daigneault of OKC congratulating the referees for ejecting Luka Doncic out of the game for trash talking a fan (which has never been a penalty) and says “I’d love to have them back” 😂😂
The NBA is a joke and ratings will continue to suffer until this is fixed. pic.twitter.com/QWXEMQywY0
— HeroOfTheDay (@Hero_OfThe_Day) April 9, 2025
With three games left in the regular season, the Lakers will now head to Dallas to face-0ff with the Mavericks on Wednesday night, in what will be a revenge game for Luka when he takes the floor at American Airlines Center (7:30 pm ET; ESPN).
Related: Spurs' Zach Collins Gestures Middle Finger To Ref After Getting Ejected
