Since joining the Los Angeles Lakers, Luka Doncic has put up monster stats. But he’s still a liability on the defensive side of the ball. And Lakers fans, and the organization, are starting to learn exactly why the Dallas Mavericks traded Doncic in the first place. His lack of effort, at times, on the defensive end is extremely costly.
There’s no doubt that Doncic is a talented basketball player. He’s one of the greatest players on the planet and a true superstar on the offensive end of the court. But if he’s giving up just as many points on defense, what’s the point? It’s hard for the Lakers to win games when they’re constantly hiding him (and others) on defense.
It’s a problem that Dallas undoubtedly saw coming.
Luka Doncic's defense is really hurting the Lakers (which the Mavericks knew about)
Obviously, Nico Harrison and the Mavs didn’t go about things the right way. If they had opened up a bidding war for Doncic, then they probably could have gotten a much better haul than what they ended up with.
Once Harrison was fired, the Mavs were forced to trade Anthony Davis, as he was clearly not a part of their long-term plans, and now, they’re rebuilding again (albeit with Cooper Flagg leading the way, thanks to some insane lottery luck).
That said, there was a reason that the Lakers traded Doncic less than a year after he brought them to the NBA Finals. Harrison saw something that he didn’t like.
For all of the incredible things Doncic brought to the table, he was never a good defender. And what’s worse than that, it didn’t seem like he cared about improving in that regard.
Now that he’s in LA, it seems like they’re dealing with the same things. Doncic has been a liability on the defensive end, and the Lakers are having to game plan around it.
But it’s not working that well because LA doesn’t have the personnel to deal with that sort of thing. They are starting Doncic and Austin Reaves, neither of whom are good defenders. And at this point in his career, LeBron James isn’t great on that end, either. At least, not consistently.
That said, Doncic’s probelms are the worst of all. Reaves hustles on defense. He tries. Even James can turn it on when he needs to. Doncic just doesn’t.
His defense is one of the main reasons the Lakers haven’t been as successful as they can be this season. And they’re going to have to figure out how to get around that reality.
Something the Mavericks chose not to do by way of trading him.