As the NBA regular season nears its conclusion, Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic is currently sitting on 15 technical fouls.
One more, and he will be suspended.
Doncic knows this.
Whether he is right or wrong, Doncic cannot afford another tech because of the possibility of suspension.
He admitted what he needs to do when speaking to the NBA on TNT crew after his Mavs beat the Brooklyn Nets 113-109.
In that victory, Doncic picked up two more techs which brought it up to a league-leading 15, tied with Philadelphia 76ers backup center Dwight Howard.
As of right now, he is one tech away from a one-game suspension.
Ernie Johnson of NBA on TNT asked him about those techs after the game.
Despite Johnson struggling to ask the question nicely not to tick off Doncic, he got a pretty nice and straightforward answer from the star.
“I wasn’t myself this season. Complaining way too much. I have to work on that.”
Luka checked in with the Inside guys after Dallas’ win. pic.twitter.com/5XO3E15O9r
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 7, 2021
“This season has been long,” Doncic, 22, said.
“With the officials, I wasn’t myself this season. Complaining too much. I have to work on that. I have to just stay calm and not talk to them. I’ve got to learn from that.”
He went into more detail with ESPN reporters via the virtual postgame media session.
“I realize it,” Doncic said.
“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. It’s just hard for me on the court with all the emotions, but I realize it and I’ve got to work on this. It’s tough to do it, but I’ve got to work on it and be way better than this.”
Despite being criticized by people on podcasts and in the media for whining too much, owner Mark Cuban came to his star’s defense.
Here is his response to Zach Lowe of ESPN:
“F*** you Zach Lowe. You don’t know s***,” Cuban said.
“I know Luka, right? He’s not a big whiner. He’s passionate. He cares. He wants to win. He’s got some s*** to him where, yeah he’s one of those European players where you see him doing this all the time and talking in one of five different languages. But no, he’s not a whiner. He’s a baller.”
Lucky for Doncic, the technical foul count resets in the playoffs, but right now, his team needs him so they can stay above the play-in tournament.
Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks currently sit in the fifth spot in the loaded Western Conference.