Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic has always been criticized for his defense, and it appears this year won't be any different. On the Game Over podcast this week, Max Kellerman slammed Luka for deciding to argue with officials rather than get back on defense.
"Because if you’re complaining to the refs, you don’t have to run back down the floor on defense," Kellerman said of Doncic. "You’re just being lazy!”
Does Luka Doncic's defense already warrant criticism this year?
Let's keep things real: Luka's never been a consistently high-effort perimeter defender. And yes, he does still complain to officials quite a bit. The Lakers' second game of the current season (in which Luka tallied a career-high 11 turnovers) saw Doncic yapping with the refs far too frequently.
But Kellerman's criticism comes at an odd time, because Luka hasn't been that bad on defense to start the year. He's been good enough to not be a liability, which is really all that can be expected of him.
Doncic has a 115.1 defensive rating through four games played, while the Lakers as a team sit at 112.3. This isn't a disaster stat for Luka, especially for a guy who's carrying the offense with averages of 36.0 points, 8.3 assists, and 6.8 rebounds per game.
Luka's vowed to give full effort this season, but it remains to be seen over an 82-game campaign if that'll come to pass. It's easy to make promises during the preseason or at the start of the regular season; it's another thing to still be walking the walk in Game 60 or 75.
Can Luka stay solid on defense? He's not lightning quick, of course, but Doncic doesn't have a ton of excuses to be a terrible defender at his size -- 6-foot-8 with good strength.
Kellerman's comments, though weirdly timed, do draw attention to a real problem that Luka has with complaining. There's really no benefit to complaining to the degree that Luka does on certain nights. We've seen Nikola Jokic come out a few years ago and say that he made a conscious effort to stop complaining so much, since it took away focus from some of the other things he should be maximizing on the basketball court. Luka taking a similar approach would help both himself and the Lakers.
The "lazy defender" narrative is never going away until Luka proves he can sustain solid effort throughout an entire campaign, and complaining less with refs would help with that. Make sure and get back in transition. Stay in a stance for the entire shot clock. Little details like this are all that Doncic needs to stay disciplined about. He doesn't need to be a "stopper" on that end. Time will tell if he can do these little things for the Lakers.
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