The Los Angeles Lakers are having quite the season in 2025-26. They’re sitting comfortably in fifth place in the Western Conference standings with a 23-13 record. But despite the strong performances on court, there have been some messy situations off it.
And now, nearly two weeks after a heated incident, the NBA has finally handed down its punishment to a player who went after Luka Dončić in a pretty shocking way.
Sacramento Kings Player Punished for Confronting Luka Dončić
Let’s rewind to Dec. 28, 2025. The Lakers were hosting the Sacramento Kings at Crypto.com Arena. It was supposed to be just another regular-season game, but it turned into something much more dramatic. The Lakers dominated that night, winning 125-101.
But the real story was the bad blood brewing between Dončić and Kings guard Dennis Schröder.
These two European veterans went at it all game long. The trash talk was flying back and forth. However, things really heated up when Dončić decided to take it personally. He started mocking Schröder about a contract offer the guard had turned down years ago when he was with the Lakers. Dončić reportedly taunted him with something like, “You should’ve signed that contract, baby.”
Schröder didn’t take that well at all. On the court, he fired back aggressively. He even threatened to “beat the s**t out of” Dončić. But here’s where things got really out of hand.
About 40 minutes after the game ended, Schröder apparently went looking for Dončić in an arena hallway. He found him, confronted him, and actually tried to throw a punch at him. Yeah, you read that right.
Fast forward 13 days, and the NBA has finally made its decision. According to an official post on X from the league, Schröder has been suspended three games without pay for “confronting and attempting to strike another player.” The suspension started Sunday against the Houston Rockets. Ironically, one of the games he’ll miss is when the Kings host Dončić and the Lakers on Monday.
The following was just released by the NBA: pic.twitter.com/ptF5zhjUEo
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) January 11, 2026
This punishment is going to hit Schröder’s wallet hard as well. ESPN’s Bobby Marks reported that the suspension will cost him $291,807 in salary. That’s not pocket change for anyone.
For those unfamiliar with Schröder’s journey, he was drafted 17th overall by the Atlanta Hawks in 2013 and has since bounced around quite a bit. The Kings are actually his 10th NBA team. He joined Sacramento in July 2025 through a sign-and-trade deal after initially signing with Detroit. His current contract is worth approximately $44.4 million over three years, with $33.26 million guaranteed. This season, he is making $14,104,000.
Looking back at that game itself, you can kind of see why Schröder might have been frustrated.
The Lakers set the tone early, jumping out to a six-point lead after the first quarter and stretching it to 15 by halftime before completely taking control in the second half. Their dominance peaked with a 30-point lead in the fourth quarter, leaving the Kings unable to keep pace in a lopsided loss.
The contrast was just as stark on an individual level. Schröder was limited to 11 points, while Dončić erupted for 34, a disparity that likely intensified Schröder’s frustration. How the resulting punishment impacts him moving forward remains to be seen.
