You don’t like Luka Doncic’s attitude.
I love it.
You think the Lakers star whines too much. All the complaining to officials kills you. If there was a suggestion box, you’d follow Golden State Warriors rookie Yaxel Lendeborg and lodge a complaint.
You do whatever you want; I’m not offended by any of it.
You are not entertained. You don’t like the demonstrative way he waves off calls. You hate how he’ll belabor a point for possessions at a time — as he did, per usual, in Friday’s not-particularly-pretty 125-117 victory over the Clippers at Crypto.com Arena. The Lakers improved to 2-0 and Doncic had 23 points, six rebounds, seven assists and, if you’re looking to complain, a career high-tying 11 turnovers.
But me? I am entertained — endlessly. As long as Luka’s list of grievances is long.
Because Doncic is a maniac. Not a mad man, a madman. And a reminder that these millionaires are playing a child’s game, because no one relishes it with quite the joy and verve and passion and emotion and occasional tantrum like Doncic does.
He’s someone who arrived onstage, talented beyond his years. He’s also a toddler.
He couldn’t change if he wanted to, but would you really want him to?
There’s no slicing and dicing without a sufficiently sharp edge.
And I get it. Opposing fans — and their teams’ general managers, whose preseason survey answers about this season’s prospective MVP candidates excluded Doncic in favor of Victor Wembanyama, Nikola Jokić, Anthony Edwards, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jayson Tatum — are not supposed to appreciate Luka’s lip.
But if you’re a Lakers fan, you have to know you can’t take out the trash talk from Doncic’s game. You can’t ask him nicely to clean up his mess, man. Petty isn’t going to be pretty. And everyone can get it — including, once, the reporters on press row covering Doncic’s Dallas Mavericks. “You can’t guard me!” he screamed at us, ridiculously.
You have to let him cook, your very own basketball anarchist.
“He’s always going to play with an edge,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “As long as he’s not causing the other team to have a five-on-four transition opportunity, it doesn’t bother me.”
And if he’s not toeing the line on a late-season suspension triggered by a 16th technical foul, his antics probably wouldn’t bother Lakers fans, either.
“This season, I’m trying to not get techs,” Doncic said after Wednesday’s season-opening victory against the Warriors, when he and Lendeborg mixed it up. “It was the first time that was not a double tech, ’cause I didn’t say nothing. So I’m working on it.”
It isn’t that Doncic busies himself with the refs because he’s lazy and doesn’t want to get back on defense — do you know how much stamina it takes to keep up a marathon-length running dialogue? How exhausting it has to be to litigate every little thing, to be so constantly aggrieved?
It’s a special part of his special skillset; put him in the top 1% in the world of complainers. If he wasn’t one of the world’s top 1% of hoopers, imagine him in court instead of on the court; he’d be a bulldog: Objection! Objection! Objection!
The man is a rascal, but he’s not a villain. Everything he does is with a wink-wink twinkle in his eye.
He never shuts up on the court, but he’s a man of few words off of it, low-key and community-minded and in the top 1% of patient autograph-givers. A generous teammate to whom good vibes matter much.
But he’s an absolute menace to compete against and, yes, to officiate.
So, kids, don’t try this at home. At least not during a basketball game. Don’t show that energy to the refs, who deserve your respect. As do your teachers and your coaches and your parents or guardians.
But do keep that energy. You’re not going to get what you want in life unless you advocate — agitate — for it. Put pressure on powers that be. Ask for explanations — demand them. Because it’s true, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
Being pushy works, even if it won’t win you popularity contests. The GMs left Doncic off their predictive MVP list for a reason. He finished fourth in MVP voting last season and has never been higher than third in his eight NBA seasons.
That’s largely a reflection of where the Lakers placed last season — fourth. And where they’re expected to finish this season; there are 12 teams with better odds to win the title, according to DraftKings.
But it probably has more to do with voters’ appetite for discussion, the type of heated debate that offends the sensibilities of so many — even though that mayhem is a crucial ingredient of Luka’s magic. Just sit back and relax. Enjoy the show.
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