The Dallas Mavericks will not have the services of their best player when they wrap up their season on Sunday against the San Antonio Spurs. At the end of the first quarter of Dallas’ game against the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night, Luka Doncic brought the ball up the floor and attempted a heave from mid-court as the clock hit zero.
Doncic decided to let it fly while Elijah Hughes hit him on the shoulder, and understandably, the All-NBA guard thought that there should have been a foul called as a result. Doncic didn’t heat a whistle, so he decided to ask for an explanation from a referee. He didn’t get one, and instead, Tony Brothers hit him with a technical foul, Doncic’s 16th on the season.
Oh no, Luka.#MFFL | @dallasmavs on @BallySportsSW pic.twitter.com/KSqu1aRdJh
— Bally Sports Southwest (@BallySportsSW) April 9, 2022
After it happened, Doncic still wasn’t sure exactly what happened and tried to get an explanation for how he’s the one who got hit with a foul of any sort on this one.
Luka Doncic, talking to Mavs PR man @scootertomlin: “I asked him, ‘How is that not a foul? How is that not a foul?’ He T’d me up. That’s unfair. That’s unfair.” https://t.co/hkCEcPKtoX
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) April 9, 2022
Doncic has a point that Hughes got him on the shoulder, but instead of letting it go, he’ll now sit out the team’s last regular season game of the year. The good news for Dallas is they aren’t entering that game in any sort of danger to fall out of the top-4 of the Western Conference, so Doncic will get a nice night off.
