We all know how gifted newly-acquired Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic is on offense. The five-time consecutive First-Team All-NBA selection could go down as one of the best three or four offensive players of all-time when it’s all said and done.
But, we are also aware that Luka Doncic is nearly as bad on the defensive end as he is on the offensive end, especially when it comes to inconsistent effort. Lakers fans witnessed that firsthand watching Luka Doncic in the team’s loss to the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City on Sunday.
Doncic, who is still on a minutes restriction, was playing in his second game since returning from injury following the trade early on Groundhog Day. He had 16 points on 6-13 shooting to go along with 4 rebounds and 4 assists, but was a whopping -19 in 23 minutes.
The Lakers as a whole weren’t very good, losing 131-119 to a very bad team. But, Luka is still clearly out of shape not putting forth a ton of effort on defense. And, he loves arguing with the officials still instead of getting back on defense.
Luka Doncic complains to the referee instead of hustling back on defense.
Welcome to the Luka experience, Lakers fans. pic.twitter.com/FO5StpEj6z
— NBA Memes (@NBAMemes) February 13, 2025
Those on Twitter took notice of Luka’s traffic-cone defense.
Oh my god Luka on defense is HARD to watch, really hope when he’s 100% it’s much better
— ChiefBron (@ChiefBron) February 13, 2025
Luka defense is HORRIBLE
— Sammy🇬🇭 (@minkcoat55) February 13, 2025
Luka defense is terrible
— 1. (@IamDemarcusW) February 13, 2025
This is going to have to change if the Los Angeles Lakers are going to make a playoff run. Luka will get in better shape, which will help. But, they are without a rim protector, which will only put more stress on the perimeter defense.