Jarred Vanderbilt Feels Referee Had ‘Personal’ Issue With Luka Doncic

The ejection of Luka Doncic completely changed the complexion of the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night. While much of the focus has been on the second technical foul which got him kicked out, his first came in the third quarter following a Jarred Vanderbilt layup.

Vanderbilt felt he got hit in the head on the layup attempt, but no foul was called and Doncic argued that point to the official which led to a technical being called. But Vanderbilt felt the official had a personal issue with Doncic based on what was said at the time.

After the game, Vanderbilt spoke on what happened, saying that Doncic was sticking up for him not getting the foul call, He also noted that referee J.T. Orr said he would talk to anybody on the Lakers aside from Luka, which seemed personal in his eyes, via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin:

“Yea for sure. He felt like I got, which I did get fouled, I got slapped across the head. He was telling the ref that that’s what happened and the ref was just like ‘I’ll talk to anybody but you,’ (talking about) Luka, obviously, so it seemed a little personal at that point. But he was just advocating for me saying I got fouled. The ref, he said basically he’ll talk to anybody on the team, but Luka so I don’t know what that was about.”

While nothing should ever get personal, this certainly wouldn’t be the first time there was some sort of issue with a player and an official. There is no denying that Doncic has a history of berating officials with 93 technical fouls in his career, so an official being fed up is bound to happen from time to time.

After the game, Tony Brothers said that Doncic directed profanity at an official, which led to this technical foul in particular. If the Lakers are going to make a championship run, they need Doncic on the court and while it is great to see him sticking up for his teammate in Vanderbilt, it can’t come at the cost of him dominating the game when the Lakers need him.

Luka Doncic feels he let Lakers down with ejection

The second technical foul Luka Doncic picked up was even more questionable as it looked as if the Lakers superstar was yelling at a fan, and the official mistook that as being directed as him, leading to his ejection.

Afterwards, Doncic confirmed that he was yelling at a fan and didn’t understand why he was kicked out of the game. But he also added that watching the Lakers fall apart and lose to the Thunder made him feel like he let his team down.