There were two things that stood out in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 105-104 win over the Orlando Magic on Saturday: Luke Kennard’s last-second game-winning 3-pointer, and the trash-talking incident between Luka Doncic and Magic big man Goga Bitadze.
Both Doncic and Bitadze were assessed with technical fouls after the two had an exchange where Bitadze allegedly threatened Doncic’s family. It was the superstar’s 16th technical foul of the season, and it would’ve triggered an automatic one-game suspension had the NBA not rescinded it the following day.
Former Lakers forward and seven-time NBA champion Robert Horry, who works as an analyst for Los Angeles-based Spectrum SportsNet, brought up Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green afterward when talking about how technical fouls are given out.
“I always laugh because I’ve always seen certain players, I’m not gonna call no names (coughs) Draymond Green, that says things to the refs and they let it slide,” Horry said. “But when you say things to another player, there’s no pushing or shoving, you wanna call a double tech on the players? Stop taking money out of players’ pockets.”
Green seemed to say on his podcast, “The Draymond Green Show,” that Doncic had a right to fire back at Bitadze.
“Goga Bitadze was trash-talking Luka at the foul line and Luka said at the free throw line that Bitadze said he would [expletive] his whole family up,” Green said. “At some point, I can’t stand for that; I got to stand up for myself.”
While Horry seemed to have a valid point, Green also made it clear that he didn’t appreciate being brought up in such a discussion.
“Robert Horry goes on the show and brings me up,” Green said. “I think he wanted some attention, so everybody, let’s give Robert Horry the attention that he deserves. But I don’t know what I had to do with this…I am not sure how you ended up with my name in this statement because I just don’t really fit the conversation. Number one, I don’t talk about people family. I talk a lot of [expletive] on the basketball court, you can ask a lot of guys the things that I say. I don’t talk about guys’ family. … Because no one’s going to come on the court and talk about my family. That line won’t be crossed.”
Trash-talking is definitely a part of basketball, but there is an unspoken line that shouldn’t be crossed. When Doncic and Bitadze had their incident, apparently, that line was crossed. And apparently, the league got it right when it rescinded Doncic’s technical foul.
There is a difference between arguing with a referee, which is considered unsportsmanlike conduct, and responding naturally to an opponent’s inappropriate trash-talking.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Draymond Green on trash-talking between Luka Doncic and Goga Bitadze
Reporting by Robert Marvi, LeBron Wire / LeBron Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
