NBA referees have been needlessly quick with some ejections this season, but when you have the reputation and history of complaining that Luka Doncic does, the officials aren’t cutting you any slack.
In the third quarter Monday night in Minnesota, Doncic thought he drew a foul on Jaden McDaniels — years ago, Doncic would have gotten that whistle, McDaniels had slid back in front of Doncic and was still moving, but this was the right call as Doncic initiated the contact and went to the ground to sell it, the officials correctly went with a no-call — and said something magical to Rodney Mott, and that got Doncic ejected. Then Jason Kidd had to defend his star player and he was ejected as well.
Luka and Jason Kidd were both ejected 😳 pic.twitter.com/cAqp60misE
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 20, 2022
We don’t know what Doncic said here, but as noted above he is one of the leading complainers in the league (he and Draymond Green fight for that trophy every year) and the referees are not giving him a break.
There is validity in the argument that fans don’t pay exorbitant NBA ticket prices to see Mott, they pay to see Doncic, and with that the league needs fewer ejections. However, the league needs to find a way to reduce the level of complaining to officials (which also undermines the integrity of the game), and a few ejections can go a long way down that road.
Still, the NBA has to find a way to get its stars on the court — in a rest and recovery league, every night big stars are in street clothes and it hurts the product — and throwing out the ones that do play doesn’t help. The league, players and officials need to find a balance. Right now, everybody looks bad.
Minnesota went on to beat Dallas 116-106.