Luka Dončić has a problem, and it doesn’t matter if he’s right.
On Wednesday, Dončić’s familiar temper flared again when he was ejected from Slovenia’s quarterfinal game against Canada in the FIBA World Cup. It happened at the 6:37 mark of the fourth quarter, with Dončić sprawled on the floor after an errant shot attempt, when yet another of his referee-directed complaints resulted in a technical foul. It was his second, after he already had received one for the same reason in the first half, and this one resulted in his automatic dismissal. Slovenia, then trailing by 15 points, was eliminated from the tournament in a 100-89 defeat.
Following his second technical foul, Luka Dončić has been ejected from the game. 😬#FIBAWC pic.twitter.com/Fpg05QOaMO
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) September 6, 2023
Dončić is cerebral. His innate understanding of the sport, how teammates and opponents alike flow around him, is what allows his spectacular passes and jaw-dropping highlights. His unique athleticism, defined by stop-start motion rather than conventional explosiveness, is what allows him to unbalance defenders so frequently. In his sophomore NBA season, he used that ability to take up residency at the rim. That year, he averaged 20.7 drives per game, the second-most in the league behind only Russell Westbrook (20.8). He was manipulating defenders, and often doing it in a manner that made them vacate the space he needed to reach.
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That’s changed in the ensuing seasons. Increasingly, he’s manipulating them into his own space now, tempting them into fouls he feels like he can control as purposefully as his stepback 3s. As his stardom has increased, Dončić has begun receiving superstar calls just like any other standout player.
And as Dončić has grown accustomed to how referees typically officiate him, so too has his belligerence when those whistles — from a third party he ultimately can’t control — don’t always come.
Look, Dončić is often right to feel aggrieved. He doesn’t always get called for contact because he’s so good at constantly creating it. He can’t whisk by defenders with speed or elevate over them into another dimension, but he’s become one of the world’s best basketball players by packaging his overwhelming skill with brute strength and calculated decision-making. Consider this sequence from earlier this summer, when he was celebrated for this ruthless and-1 bucket while playing in a pre-FIBA World Cup exhibition against Greece:
Dončić treats being fouled as an extension of his style of play. If he can manipulate passing windows with his eyes, if he can create driving lanes with his deceleration, why can’t he also draw fouls and generate free throws using his body as bait? If that’s his mindset, even if it’s not quite so premeditated in his own head, it makes sense given the totality of the manner in which he plays.
Dončić needing to draw fouls isn’t the problem, and he’s far from the first player to treat it as a skill. He finished 12th in free throw rate last season among minute-qualified players, beneath perimeter players such as Jimmy Butler, Austin Reaves, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Harrison Barnes. He’s also far from the first player to create so much contact that officials simply can’t call it all.
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That this useful advantage has become something he expects, even deserves, is what has increasingly turned it into a detriment.
Specifically, on Wednesday, Dončić’s truculent attitude toward another non-whistle resulted in him missing the final six-and-a-half minutes of an elimination game in which he would’ve otherwise been poised to take over. Canada’s Dillon Brooks had been ejected just seconds prior, and the team’s other primary Dončić defender, Lu Dort, was one foul away from disqualification. Instead of having the chance to punish Canada in an attempted comeback, Dončić’s final few words pushed past the referee’s patience that Dončić had been testing all game. He flashed the money sign, not for the first time, as he left the court.
Luka Doncic made a money sign gesture toward the VIP tribune where the FIBA executives were seated.
This gesture followed a highly emotional reaction from the crowd and the Slovenia team due to a foul call on RJ Barrett.
— Donatas Urbonas (@Urbodo) September 6, 2023
No matter how talented Dončić is, no matter how much he can control on the court through his actions, he cannot blow the whistles. He cannot play defense when he’s too animated in a tirade on the court’s other end. And he cannot help his country when he’s not even allowed on the bench.
Dončić understands that his behavior is a problem. “It’s a lot of emotions,” he told reporters afterward. “A lot of times, I don’t control myself, which I’ve been having problems with.”
While understanding problems is the first step to fixing them, this quote sounds an awful lot like what he’s been saying for years.
In a December 2019 postgame interview, Dončić was asked about interacting with officials. “Yeah, I’ve got to work on that, for sure,” he said.
In February 2021, in an interview with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, Dončić said, “I gotta stop this, I know it’s not right.”
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Three months later, in a postgame interview on NBA TV, Dončić repeated that sentiment: “I realize it. It’s something that I’m not supposed to do. (It’s difficult) with all the emotions in games, but obviously I’ve got to stop.”
In March 2022, on an episode of The Old Man and the Three podcast, Dončić once again said: “I had a talk with myself and I just said, ‘This can’t keep going.’ It’s a really bad look. I knew I was doing this, but I kept going. It’s over. I had to tell myself: ‘No more, man.'”
But Dončić’s technical fouls have risen in each of his five season and he’s been one technical foul away from an automatic suspension the past two years, despite several of them being rescinded.
It’s clear this partially stems from Dončić’s raw competitiveness, but that’s no excuse in a league filled with cutthroat winners. It might also be that Dončić’s on-court complaints have been tied, at times, to personal frustrations, particularly those involving his own subpar conditioning. But Dončić has reportedly spent this summer dedicated to maintaining peak basketball shape, and he still lost his cool, even as he represented his country in a must-win situation.
Dončić can control the court and its participants like he’s conducting it. He’s a manipulative maestro who will continue to draw fouls with the same skills and superiority that could soon make him the league’s best player. Whether those are connected — would it be better for Dončić to stop seeking out contact so cynically? — is a question only he can answer.
But there’s no doubt that for all of Dončić’s control, he must learn to control himself.
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