Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic is one of the most electric stars in the league, but he's drawing negative reactions from several NBA prognosticators. Oftentimes during the game, Luka is seen arguing and pantomiming to referees when he feels that he hasn't gotten a foul called or when he feels a defensive player has touched him. That has drawn the ire of several media personalities, and now ESPN's Tim McMahon has entered the fray.
In comments on ESPN's Get Up, McMahon went in on Doncic about complaining to the referees.
“Luka had two glaring flaws throughout the course of his career conditioning and crying. The conditioning he has made major strides in, he's crying as much as he ever has… What I can tell you is Luka vents his frustration at the referees. So the more he's frustrated, the more he's whining, he's crying and he, he worries more about sometimes the three guys in the gray jerseys and the five guys in the opposite jerseys. And look, he's gonna have defensive problems regardless. It's hard to play defense if you never cross half court 'cause you're worried about a call that you didn't get.”
McMahon isn't the only media member who has complained about Doncic's approach. In a recent edition of his podcast in collaboration with sports agent Rich Paul Game Over, Max Kellerman facetiously proposed that if Luka Doncic were to get a statue, it would be a pose of him arguing with officials.
“And you know how [Pat] Riley has his statue? You know what Luka Doncic’s statue, if he ever gets one, outside of Crypto now is going to be? It’s going to be like this. This is the Luka statue. With his arms out, like this…Every single trip down the floor, you’re complaining to the refs? Luka. Every trip down the floor? Even when he hits the shot? No, you’re not going to get the and-1. It can’t be that the refs blow every call on Luka Doncic.”
Bill Simmons recently spoke about what he considers Doncic's foul-baiting on his The Bill Simmons Show podcast.
“The foul b*tching stuff is the worst it's been in a while. It's back to peak unwatchability. It's every single play. Now it's back to where it was at, it at its very worst in Dallas when it got so bad that the Mavs had to finally call him out publicly. Yeah. It's so bad that even LeBron's like, wow. Wow, what's this guy? This guy's really b*tching for calls.
On a recent episode of FanDuel TV's Run It Back, Lou Williams also criticized Doncic, saying that his complaining over fouls causes the Lakers to lose basketball’s “game of inches.”
“Basketball is a game of inches. You lose by one point because you give up possession after possession after possession worrying about referees.”
On paper, Luka is having a phenomenal season. He's currently first in the league in points per game, averaging 32.5, and he has also added 7.8 rebounds and 8.6 assists. But the 110-109 loss to the Orlando Magic in clutch time on Tuesday evening has amplified criticism of the team and, notably, Luka's behavior in these moments.
The Lakers look to snap their two-game losing streak against the Suns on Thursday at 9 p.m.
