The Los Angeles Lakers were seven minutes and 40 seconds away from potentially gaining invaluable momentum heading into the 2025 NBA Playoffs. With 7:40 remaining in the fourth quarter, Los Angeles was tied at 108-108 with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Unfortunately, a bizarre and baffling technical foul resulted in Luka Doncic being ejected and Los Angeles losing its head—thus clearing the path for Oklahoma City's 136-120 victory.
It was one of the most frustrating moments of a season that's been defined by adversity. Los Angeles was less than eight minutes away from potentially picking up back-to-back road wins over the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, only to have glory ripped from its hands by a questionable ejection.
The NBA has now confirmed that Doncic shouldn't have been ejected, as the technical foul has been rescinded.
Luka Doncic’s (LAL) technical foul at 7:40 of the 4th quarter on 4/8/25 (vs. OKC) has been rescinded upon league office review.
— NBA Official (@NBAOfficial) April 9, 2025
For as vindicating as that report may be, it's too little, too late for the Lakers—and a clear example of one of the NBA's greatest structural flaws.
Luka Doncic's technical foul rescinded, but Lakers' loss to OKC remains
It's an unfortunate truth that every NBA player is forced to deal with at some point in time. Fans can purchase a ticket and say whatever they want to the athletes on the court, but any kind of recourse often results in a punishment that's exclusive to the respondent.
Furthermore, season-altering technical fouls can be handed out at a referee's discretion—a fair practice, but one without an adequate system for accountability.
Human error is a part of the game for both the players and the referees alike. The one area in which that must be rectified, however, is when rulings can be made that will directly impact a player's availability for current or future outings.
This is a shining example of how one referee's unchecked interpretation of the rule not only cost Doncic the last eight minutes of a crucial game, but may result in the Lakers losing their seeding.
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
Los Angeles remains in control of its own destiny, holding a 1.0-game lead over the LA Clippers, Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors, and Memphis Grizzlies. It was deprived of an opportunity to cushion that advantage, however, and thus has an even more difficult climb ahead of it to hold on to the No. 3 seed and avoid the Play-In Tournament.
The NBA has now admitted that the Lakers shouldn't have been robbed of that opportunity—a rescinding that's merely symbolic as far as the actual result is concerned.
Moving forward, the NBA desperately needs to create a system of checks and balances for technical fouls and ejections. It could be as simple as body cameras and microphones for referees, and a panel of peers to review technical fouls at the Replay Center in Secaucus. One way or another, unchecked power to decide the outcome of a game has gone too far, too many times.
In the meantime, the Lakers will have to fight an uphill battle that was the direct result of an ejection that never should've taken place. The NBA's acknowledgement does nothing to rectify that fact.