Luka Doncic has explained that he was responding to a courtside fan when he was ejected from the Los Angeles Lakers' 136-120 defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday.

The incident happened in the fourth quarter, with the 26-year-old told to leave the court after an official had thought the comments were directed at them.

"I never got a fan ejected," said Doncic after the game, as reported by ESPN. "Never. But if [the fan is] going to talk, I'm going to talk back, like always. That had nothing to do with the ref. So I didn't really understand."

At the time, the Lakers were leading 108-107 with seven minutes and 40 seconds remaining on the clock. Doncic was pulled up for his second technical foul of the game by referee J.T. Orr when the former complained about a missed foul on Jarred Vanderbilt in the previous possession.

"He thought I got fouled, which I did get fouled, I got slapped across the head," said Vanderbilt. "He was just telling the ref that that's what happened. And the ref was just like ... 'I'll talk to anybody but you, Luka.' So it seemed a little personal at that point."

Asked about the two technical fouls after the game, crew chief Tony Brothers said that Doncic had "directed profanity at a game official" for the first. For the second, meanwhile, Brothers said Doncic "looked directly at an official and used vulgar language."

The fan in question, though, was Jeremy Price, and he had a different version of events.

"During the game within the game, I mentioned that he was short [on his shot] and he missed it, and he turned around and he shot an expletive back and J.T. happened to see it and, at that point, T'd him up," he said.

"That's probably why he picked up that technical, to be quite honest."

Final pic.twitter.com/Bi3Ib1WC8f
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) April 9, 2025

But what is not up for debate is that Doncic's ejection changed the course of the game.

"Both teams knew that this was going to be a playoff-type atmosphere, playoff-type competition, playoff-type feeling, and it just got weird. The game got weird after that," said LeBron James.

Lakers coach JJ Redick was in agreement with James, suggesting that the match was ultimately decided by the decision.

"It was a great game that unfortunately didn't get to finish out the way that I think every basketball fan would want because of some decision-making on some individuals' parts," he said.

Following the defeat, the Lakers remain third in the West with just three regular season games remaining. The Thunder, meanwhile, stay top with a 65-14 record.