Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic is one of the premier offensive talents in the NBA, a top-five player by almost every metric considering his impact on that side of the floor.
With an array of moves at his disposal, Doncic can score at every level on the floor and he recently explained why it’s easier to score in the NBA than in Europe.
While Doncic is a maestro on the offensive end, his defense leaves much to be desired. He has been dinged on his defensive efforts for years and former Laker Robert Horry expressed his desire to see more from Doncic on that side of the floor, via the Dan Patrick Show:
“It’s so weird that people talk about his weight, but yet he’s still giving people 30 points. I tell people, I don’t care about his weight. You need to get him in a gym and teach him how to play defense. You know, that’s the thing, because you can give someone 40 points, but if you’re giving up 35 on the other end, those 40 points don’t mean anything. Because it’s about wanting to. You know, he’s never had to because he’s always had people behind him to erase his mistakes. You think about now, there was no AD, no center. Nobody erased his mistakes in L.A. He getting blown by, you know, they’re getting layups. You know, if you watch stretches of games where Luka just stayed in front, because he’s a big body, the offensive players are bouncing off him. You just stay in front. And I think that is the key. And I think also he needs to want to play defense, because so many times he saves his energy for the offensive end. I tell people all the time, if you can move your feet and get past and blow by people, that means you have some fast-twitch muscles. You can move pretty fast. So there’s no reason you cannot play better defense on the other. You just got to want to. And I think a lot of times he doesn’t want to. He’d rather just point.”
The Dallas Mavericks traded Doncic to Los Angeles partly because of their concerns over his defense, and while it’s a valid concern it shouldn’t take away from what he can do. At this point, Doncic has to know his defense will continue to be criticized until he proves his doubters wrong so it’ll be interesting to see how he responds during the 2025-26 season.
Draymond Green thought Warriors were getting Kevin Durant when Luka Doncic trade news broke
The Luka Doncic trade remains the most shocking deal in NBA history, though the Golden State Warriors apparently got close to re-acquiring Kevin Durant at the trade deadline. The Durant deal was reportedly close enough that Draymond Green thought it went through when the Doncic news broke.
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