This comes as the 27-year-old Slovenian picked up his 16th technical foul of the season while scoring 41 points in the 116-99 victory over Brooklyn on Friday night. Doncic got whistled for a double technical foul with the Nets' Ziaire Williams in the third quarter. What happened during Lakers vs Nets? Tensions flared during a heated on-court exchange involving Doncic and Ziaire Williams. The incident began after an offensive foul was called against Doncic. Williams reacted by celebrating emphatically, shouting directly in Doncic's face multiple times. As the Slovernian attempted to disengage, he pushed Williams' arm away. In response, Williams swung back with a backhand motion that appeared to make contact with Doncic's face. Officials stopped play and reviewed the sequence before issuing technical fouls to both players. Doncic's reaction to the incident Doncic later expressed frustration with how the situation unfolded and how it was interpreted by referees.

"He was yelling in my face three times," Doncic said. "I just wanted to get out of there. It's a double tech, of course. What can I say? I didn't even talk. I just wanted to get out of there. (The referee) said my push was exaggerated, which (it) was obviously not. I don't know what else to say." Joe Johnson weighs in Under NBA rules, a player receives an automatic one-game suspension upon accumulating 16 technical fouls in a season. The call was not rescinded, and Donic will miss the Monday game. Meanwhile, Boston Celtics legend and seven-time All-Star Joe Johnson slammed Donic for hurting the Lakers' chances against the Wizards. Talking on the 'Nightcap Podcast', Johnson said: "In the game of hoops you have to be able to control your emotions bro. Understanding what's at stake, bro they done gave you 15 strikes already. We need you bro!"

MVP run adds to stakes The controversy comes amid one of the most dominant stretches of Doncic's career. He is currently leading the league in scoring with 33.7 points per game and is firmly in the MVP conversation. Doncic has recorded 15 games with 40 or more points this season and is also among the league leaders in assists (8.2 per game) and three-pointers made. His recent performances include a 60-point outing in Miami, where fans chanted "MVP!", and a 51-point game against Chicago. He has also scored 30 or more points in 12 straight games. Recent history with technical fouls This isn't the first time Doncic has dealt with a technical foul controversy. Just last week, one of his technicals was rescinded following an altercation with Orlando's Goga Bitadze. The league did not publicly explain the reversal, though Doncic claimed Bitadze had insulted his family, an allegation Bitadze denied.