Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic has never been shy about sharing his opinions with referees over the course of a game and, unfortunately, that came back to bite him during Tuesday night's tilt with the Oklahoma City Thunder as the All-Star floor general was ejected from Los Angeles' 136-120 loss.
Jarred Vanderbilt says when Luka Doncic picked up his first technical foul, referee J.T. Orr said he would “talk to anybody but Luka.” Vanderbilt said that the techs Doncic received “seem personal” pic.twitter.com/v7UGsaO8JW
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) April 9, 2025
"He felt I got fouled, which I did get fouled, I got slapped across the head," Vanderbilt said of referee J.T. Orr, per ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "He was just telling the ref that's what happened and the ref was just like 'I will talk to anybody but you, Luka.' So it seemed a little personal at that point. He was just advocating for me, saying I got fouled. The ref said he would talk to anybody on the team but Luka so I don't know what that was about."
Vanderbilt paints a not so pretty picture of the interactions between Orr and Doncic which led to Luka ultimately being sent to the showers early. Obviously, there are two sides to every story and Crew Chief Tony Brothers offered his explanation for the events in question during an interview with pool reporter Cliff Brunt of the Associated Press.
QUESTION: Why was Luka Dončić assessed his first technical foul by J.T. Orr?
BROTHERS: He directed profanity at a game official.
QUESTION: Why was Luka Dončić assessed his second technical foul by Orr? Was it the official’s judgment that he was speaking to him or to a fan?
BROTHERS: He looked directly at an official and used vulgar language.
QUESTION: Why was Jarred Vanderbilt called for a technical foul?
BROTHERS: He was called for a technical foul for stepping towards and verbally taunting a player while the ball was dead.
Brothers' explanation concerning Doncic's ejection does not line up with the way the matter was reported on following the incident itself as ESPN's Dave McMenamin shared how Luka's back-and-forth banter was with a Thunder fan sitting courtside and not with Orr or any other official working the game.
The fan, Jeremy Price, who referred to himself as "The Courtside Tattoo Dude," told ESPN that Doncic was shouting at him and not the referee.
"During the game within the game, I mentioned that he was short [on his shot] and he missed it, and he turned around and he shot an expletive back and J.T. happened to see it and, at that point, T'd him up," Price said.
Price, who said he also jawed with Doncic last year during the Thunder's playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks, said Orr "possibly" could have been mistaken as to whom Doncic was addressing.
"That's probably why he picked up that technical, to be quite honest," Price said.
The timing of the ejection could not have come at a worse time for the Lakers as they led the Thunder 108-107 with just 7:40 seconds remaining in regulation at that point. From there, things changed for Los Angeles in a major way as Oklahoma City outscored the Lakers 29-12 down the stretch without Doncic on the floor.
Following the loss, the Purple and Gold only hold a one-game lead over the Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors and Memphis Grizzlies for the right to the No. 3 overall seed in the Western Conference playoff race.
With matchups against the Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers still looming, Los Angeles will need Doncic to be on the floor and available to play as much as possible if the Lakers are to finish the regular season strong and enter the playoffs with the best seed possible.