EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — It’s rare to see an NBA coach get called for a technical foul in the preseason. Unless you’re watching Lakers head coach Luke Walton.

Walton got hit with a technical Tuesday night during the Lakers’ 113-111 loss to the Denver Nuggets at Staples Center, and on Wednesday he noted that he got one during the preseason last year, too.

“Yeah, I don’t play," Walton said with a smile at the Lakers’ training facility. “I don’t play around. I like getting T’s."

But it will cost Walton, who said he’ll be fined by the NBA even though it’s the preseason.

“I wasn’t happy about it on my drive home," he said, “but I was OK when it happened."

Walton said he deserved the technical with 9:48 left in the third quarter after complaining to referee J.T. Orr that too many fouls were being called.



“He’s a good ref," Walton said. “I apologized to him after."