We get it. Luka Doncic isn't the best defender in the NBA. Lately, he's even playing like one of the worst. But the slander is starting to get a tad ridiculous. After all, the guy is averaging 33.7 points, 8.7 assists and 8.1 rebounds per game right now.
That didn't stop ex-NBA point guard Jeff Teague from offering up a somewhat outrageous take about Luka during a new episode of the Club 520 podcast. Teague basically said that Boston Celtics wing Jaylen Brown is a better player than Luka.
Jaylen Brown comparison shows Luka Doncic stock has fallen dramatically
"He's the best two-way player in the league, and I'm taking him over Luka," Teague said of Brown.
Was Teague intoxicated by recency bias here? Probably. At the time of the podcast recording, Brown had just erupted for 50 points in a blowout win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Bias aside, Teague had the wherewithal to confidently call Brown a better player than Luka without any of the other three voices on the pod challenging the take. With all due respect to Brown (who is playing at an MVP level), this shows how Luka's reputation is far from bulletproof, and it's taken an absolute beating recently.
Even though Brown is on a career heater and playing the best basketball of his life, Luka still takes the cake in terms of offensive production in 2025-26, career accolades, and overall impact.
Yes, Brown won an NBA Finals MVP and was a big reason for Luka's difficult Finals in 2024. But the fact of the matter remains: Doncic has five First Team All-NBA selections to Brown's zero. Furthermore, Luka has a scoring title (Brown does not), and he's finished in the top-8 in MVP voting five times. Brown has never sniffed the MVP ballot (although that could change this season).
Luka and Jaylen are both in their prime. If Luka was 35 right now, it would be fair to say that Brown is better on account of being younger with more prime years remaining. That's not the case, rendering Teague's take a bit odd (does he just dislike Luka?).
The Luka experience in Los Angeles this season has been far from perfect, but let's not get carried away. The Lakers are third in the West, and as aforementioned, Luka is putting up video game offensive numbers.
Brown has leveled up for the Celtics, that's for sure. And he might be a more dangerous player than Doncic at the present moment.
But that moment is fleeting, and the sample size is small. To place Brown above Luka would be to ignore both of these players' careers up until now and to drastically underestimate Luka's overall value, despite his defense.
Sadly, players' reputations are often affected by the media, and that's exactly the beast that made this take from Teague sound feasible for a second.