A video of Luka Doncic and JJ Redick beefing on the sidelines made its way around social media on Monday with the player-coach duo looking quite heated. That immediately caused many to run wild with speculation. Predictably, the viral moment turned out to be a whole lot of nothing.
Dave McMenamin made an appearance on ESPN to discuss the back and forth between Doncic and Redick. The Los Angeles Lakers insider offered the much-needed insight to finally put any wrong narratives about the sideline spat to rest.
McMenamin said, "I checked into this with people around the league and within the team. ... A source close to Luka told me that him and JJ have a strong, close relationship that dates back nearly a decade. They're both fiercely competitive and they push one another."
The ESPN reporter added this whole thing was 'much ado about nothing.' McMenamin called the clip going viral as an instance of the internet liking to have its fun. That should have always been the prevailing thought. Better to get there later than never.
Doncic-Redick relationship is just fine after viral moment on Lakers sideline
Anyone who has played any solid level of competitive sports knows that sometimes you can just get into it with one of your coaches, teammates, or otherwise. It's not always ill-intentioned. Those are moments that come from the heat of the environment.
Now, let's think about the NBA for a second here. This is the highest level of basketball being played on the planet. Anyone who has made it to that league — player or coach — has to have done it on the back of being one of the fiercest competitors in the sport.
These guys all want to win, and have that drive. The two personalities in question of Doncic and Redick are particularly easy to read as possessing that hunger.
The coaching style of the second-year bench boss for the Lakers has been described as obsessive at times. There are videos to be found of Redick lighting up his players for failing to execute his sets and gameplans. He also went to Duke and had enough fire to match wits with Stephen A. Smith on First Take once upon a time, so there's that too.
Doncic, meanwhile, is one of the most well-known trash talkers in the NBA. Those who have played with or gone up against Luka know just how next-level his desire to compete is. There are countless podcast clips to be found of those guys speaking on the matter.
This was never anything worth making the center of attention like it was. Lakers fans and everyone else can comfortably move on.