Luka Dončić has never been a great defender. But through four games of the Los Angeles Lakers’ first-round playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, he’s not even passable. Zach Lowe, the foremost voice in NBA analysis, called him “helpless” on that end.
That’s a problem.
You don’t have to be an Xs and Os guru to notice his struggles. Anyone watching these games will see that Dončić is a no-show on defense, and he’s being targeted by Chris Finch and Minnesota’s offense often. Jaden McDaniels scored 30 points in Game 3, with most of those baskets directly being Luka’s fault. Dončić is not staying in front of anyone he’s defending, and his team defense isn’t much better — he’s rarely helpful coming off his man to assist elsewhere. It’s just not pretty.
To be fair, Los Angeles is down 3-1 in the series for a bunch of reasons that aren’t Luka Dončić’ defense; for instance, JJ Redick played his starters the entire second half in Game 4. The team doesn’t have a real rim protector on the roster. Depth in general has been a problem all year, and the bench has been a non-factor all series. Anthony Edwards is mercilessly picking apart the entire Lakers defense.
I’m not putting the Lakers’ failures solely on Luka’s shoulders, especially because he’s scored 30-plus in three of four games. But to be the franchise-altering player, the guy who gives their team a chance every time they’re on the floor, you can’t be the guy opposing offenses target time and again. Luka is that guy right now.
It’s not heartening to see LA’s superstar completely phone it in on the defensive end. Is this a product of a lingering injury from earlier this year? Or is it a lack of interest? Which is better?
Before you ask — yes, the Lakers trading for Luka was still the right decision. Full stop. He led Dallas to the NBA Finals last year, and he’s 26 years old. When you can acquire a proven superstar and not give up draft picks, you do it. I’m not even considering the notion that LA shouldn’t have made this deal.
But trading for Luka did also came with some known baggage, and complete unreliability on the defensive end is included in that baggage. He’s not always this bad. Even at points with the Lakers in the regular season he ratcheted the defensive effort up to at least fine. That hasn’t happened in this series.
Los Angeles made this trade for the next ten years, not just this year. I understand that, and I believe it. Luka raises the floor and ceiling of a team, and LA will be, at worst, competitive with him leading the charge after LeBron’s retirement (whenever that may come).
That doesn’t mean things had to be bad this year, though. And a first-round loss after how good Los Angeles was for most of the regular season would be, in short, bad. Luka’s defense isn’t the main reason that may happen — but it’s not helping the Lakers cause, either. Right now, that’s a problem.
