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How Luka Doncic changed one part of his game with referees — even if technical fouls keep coming

The tweak in Doncic’s offensive arsenal has shown he can change his approach with some reffing matters.

A few days before training camp opened in September, Luka Doncic became the poster boy for the NBA’s latest officiating focus.

The league wanted to crack down on “abrupt” and “overt” shooting movements that many of the best offensive players had adopted to draw fouls and free throws.

In a preseason presentation to give examples of the now-off-limits “nonbasketball moves,” Doncic was the first player shown.

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But Doncic hasn’t griped about the change, perhaps much to the surprise of referees. Instead, he’s almost eliminated the tactic from his repertoire.

Halfway through the season, the tweak in Doncic’s offensive game has shown he can change his demeanor and approach with refereeing matters, even if his technical foul count and frequent midgame complaints still remain a staple.

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“Sometimes it’s difficult,” Doncic said. “You think about it because you’ve been doing it a lot, but then you’ve just got to concentrate on not doing it.”

Monty McCutchen, the NBA’s head of referee development and training, gave several presentations this fall to show the league’s new emphasis this season — and warn that a situation that was once a defensive foul would instead be a no-call or an offensive foul in the future.

The first clip he played for referees during a preseason summit: Doncic pump-faking and jumping for a stepback 3-point attempt at what McCutchen called an “abnormal launch angle” as Doncic leaned his right shoulder into Golden State’s Andrew Wiggins.

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He drew the defensive foul, but the play would’ve triggered an offensive whistle this season, McCutchen said.

“He abandons the legitimacy of the shot for the sole purpose of getting free throws,” McCutchen said. “We want basketball to be played, not manipulated.”

Officials also talked with every team in the preseason to explain the change and how they expected it to improve the flow of the game and defenders’ chances to guard without fouling.

The first mention Doncic heard was warning enough.

After using those moves often in his first three NBA seasons and as recently as the Olympics this summer — less than two months before training camp started — Doncic made sure to drop the jump-shot foul hunting from his arsenal.

“Since I heard it, I say, ‘I can’t do it no more,’” Doncic said. “So I don’t think I did it since then. Maybe once the whole season. I know you can’t do it, so I just don’t do it.”

For as simple as Doncic’s decision sounds, it’s tough to conjure data to show the elimination of something on the court, rather than an addition.

But a few statistics and anecdotes support Doncic’s intent.

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So far this season, he’s drawing 0.1 fewer fouls per game (2.4) than he did last season (2.5), and just eight of his 73 total personal fouls have been offensive.

Visually, he’s had fewer — if any — instances when he’s taken off-balance, wonky shots to create traffic in situations he’d otherwise be able to get off a clean look.

Viewers of the Mavericks’ loss Thursday to the Suns might’ve noticed a difference in Doncic as he faced Devin Booker and Chris Paul, whom the NBA also included in preseason warnings and appeared to make purposeful moves to draw fouls at American Airlines Center.

“The beauty of this game is that these guys have been great at being able to make adjustments to these rule changes,” coach Jason Kidd said.

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“A long time ago, hand-checking was taken out, and the players made the adjustment. So I think anytime there’s rule changes, players maybe — if you want to call it — struggle in the preseason, but by the time the season starts, they understand what they can get away with and what they can’t.”

If officials have noticed Doncic’s change, maybe they’ll make a presentation about technical foul behavior next.

Doncic is tied for fourth-most technicals this season (seven in 31 games) at a pace that puts him on track to draw 15, one shy of the NBA’s automatic suspension threshold, if he plays the rest of the Mavericks’ 36 regular-season games.

Baby steps.

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