Los Angeles Lakers superstar Luka Doncic is never going to be a plus defender. And while his effort defensively has dipped to an unacceptable level recently, it certainly doesn't excuse a new Luka take from Max Kellerman.
Speaking with Rich Paul this week on the Game Over with Max Kellerman and Rich Paul podcast, Kellerman made an absurd declaration about Doncic.
“I’m not asking Luka to be the best defensive player in the world, (but) he shouldn't be the worst,” Kellerman said. “Luka, right now is arguably the worst defensive player in the world.”
The worst in the world? Really, Max? There are two clear reasons why that is not anything close to being true.
Max Kellerman's awful Luka Doncic take ignores Luka's size and defensive rebounding
Let's start with Luka's defensive rebounding, which is substantial (7.2 per game). Entering Thursday, only 12 players in the entire NBA were averaging more defensive boards than Luka. All of them, besides Josh Giddey, were big men and wings.
If you're going to try and discount the value of defensive rebounding, keep in mind that you'd be dismissing an act that literally punctuates stops. You can be a magnificent team when it comes to forcing bad shots, but without proper glass cleaning, that will go to waste on many possessions.
It's not like Luka is outmuscling Jalen Duren down low or jumping over people to get rebounds, but he certainly uses his strength and size to keep smaller guards off the offensive glass. This isn't without value, and it's a quality of Luka's that -- without any other offerings defensively -- would disqualify him from the "worst defender in the world" accusations being spewed by Kellerman.
Speaking of Luka's size, that's another factor making him less of a liability on defense (even on his worst night). By comparison, a guys like, say, Trae Young, has seen his value plummet in the league due to being too small to survive on defense.
When you are undersized and underweight in the NBA, you'll be targeted again, and again, and again (especially in the playoffs), and your team will be left brutalized because of it. This is why a guy like Young has become far less desirable in the modern league.
Say what you want about Luka not sliding his feet, but he'll never be too small on defense. Yes, Luka needs to increase his effort defensively to reach the bare minimum level that he's been falling short of, but to call him the worst defensive player in the sport is ludicrous.