Did Luka Doncic commit a strategic technical foul?

Luka Doncic spent weeks on the verge of a one-game suspension after receiving his 15th technical foul of the season. He finally drew that suspension for the Los Angeles Lakers' easiest remaining game, against the lowly Washington Wizards.

After avoiding a suspension when the NBA rescinded his 16th "T" last week, Doncic and Ziaire Williams drew double technicals Friday when the Lakers played the Brooklyn Nets. That kept Doncic out of the Lakers' easy 120-101 win over the Wizards Monday, and gave him a cushion before his next mandatory suspension.

Luka Doncic often flirts with technical foul suspensions

This year marked the third time that Doncic had received 16 technical fouls in a season, only to have the NBA rescind the technical and the one-game suspension that goes along with it. Doncic had two technicals rescinded in 2022-23, one because he was cursing at a teammate, not the officials.

In the most recent case, Doncic and Goga Bitadze of the Orlando Magic received double technicals for trash talking, though the argument may have confused the referees since Bitadze was speaking Serbian. Both players received an amnesty.

Doncic began racking up a lot of technicals early in his career, logging nine in his sophomore season and jumping up to 15 by 2020-21. He's been a fixture among the league's technical foul leaders since then, getting called for 15 in three straight seasons. He had 13 each of the last two seasons, the latter coming in just 50 games.

Luka Doncic picked the right time to get a night off

The fateful 16th technical this year came when Williams celebrated an offensive foul call on Doncic. Not that Doncic is known for controlling his emotions, but the contact was relatively minor and the kind of double-technical referees often call simply to calm down potential fights.

The result was that Doncic essentially pulled the pin in the grenade that was his looming one-game suspension. With two games looming against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Doncic now only has to avoid picking up two more techs in the Lakers' last seven games — or even their last six, since he could probably skip the season finale versus the Utah Jazz.

Perhaps it's hard to imagine Doncic being calculated with any of his emotional reactions. Whatever happened, the timing of his first technical foul suspension couldn't have been more ideal for Doncic and his team.