The Los Angeles Lakers vs. Orlando Magic game had some unexpected drama when center Goga Bitadze crossed a line and decided to go after Luka Doncic. The scrap resulted in a double technical foul for the pair, but Doncic’s revelation post-game suggests he had no choice but to react to what the Magic star said to him.
Doncic is going through a torrid time personally, with a custody battle for his kids occupying his mind when he’s not balling for the Lakers. But Bitadze decided to poke the bear and disrespect the Slovenian’s family.
In the third quarter of the game, Bitadze and Doncic appeared to exchange some words, which resulted in them both betting penalized. Of course, it was difficult for Doncic to justify himself on the spot, but post-game, with a mic in his face, he revealed just what Bitadze had uttered.
Goga Bitadze was talking about Luka’s ex fiancée and 2 daughters smh pic.twitter.com/jG9bdvtpnK
— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) March 22, 2026
“He [Goga] said at free throw he will f*** my whole family. And at some point I just can’t stand it. I gotta stand up for myself,” the Lakers star said, and quite frankly, there’s not one man in the NBA who would not lose their temper to that.
Luka Dončić on his tehnical foul and what happened with him and Goga Bitadze
“He (Goga) said at free throw he will fuck my whole family. And at some point I just can’t stand it. I gotta stand up for myself” pic.twitter.com/XmX3cSxoW0
— Luka Updates (@LukaUpdates) March 22, 2026
The Lakers want Doncic’s technical foul removed altogether. It was his 16th technical foul of the season, meaning he will be forced to sit out of their next game, which is against the Detroit Pistons. Head coach JJ Redick, in his interview, stated that the referee didn’t understand the language in which Bitadze cursed Doncic, which is why the double-tech was handed in the first place.
“We’ll obviously try to get that rescinded… I do know that there were certain things said in a language that the referees couldn’t understand in references to Luka’s mom,” Redick said.
Bitadze looked baffled that he got a technical foul, which was of course an act if he said what he said. Like everyone in the league, the Georgian knows what Doncic is going through with his ex-fiancée. So, this was likely just an attempt to throw him off his game.
Well, that didn’t work either because Doncic put up 33 points and the Lakers won 105-104. Bitadze? 9 points in 18 minutes and a heart-wrenching loss.
