Luka Doncic and the Lakers went up against the Pelicans tonight at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. During the first quarter of the game, the Slovenian star was caught on tape pretending to be angry while talking to Austin Reaves on the bench.
Momens later, he acts as if he is getting up to confront JJ Redick about something once again as the Lakers’ bench erupted in laughter. Deandre Ayton, Marcus Smart and Jarred Vanderbilt can be seen laughing beside him.
Luka tested Vando to see if he’d stop him from confronting JJ again 😂 pic.twitter.com/e2n2T2z4Qm
— Lakers All Day Everyday (@LADEig) March 4, 2026
This was a direct reference to the viral clip from the Lakers’ recent 129-101 win over the Warriors where Doncic and Redick seemingly argued on the bench and Vanderbilt stopped Doncic from confronting Redick.
The Slovenian star also walked back to his seat while grinning as though he was ridiculing an incident that was exaggerated for nothing. According to a source on the team, the original clip showed that Redick and Doncic have a healthy relationship where they can be honest and push each other to be competitive, especially as former teammates.
Even Redick himself addressed the incident and ended up encouraging all of his players to treat him that way if it helps the team improve. He was unsure why the clip went viral and said it was normal between the two to have such a blunt conversation.
Recently, there has been a trend of videos going viral from the sidelines where either players are getting into it with one another or the coaching staff which is a common occurence in sports, especially aggressive ones like basketball.
However, the fans on social media for some reason tend to exaggerate it a lot more than it needs to be. Healthy confrontations are a part of team sports especially. If you can’t frankly tell one another where you think they are going wrong, then you can’t expect to win in most cases.
Look at the video of the argument between Steve Kerr and Draymond Green that went viral a few weeks ago, or the confrontation between VJ Edgecombe and Tyrese Maxey on the sidelines. Even Draymond Green seemingly ranting in front of the Warriors’ bench during the recent loss to the Lakers.
All of them show that athletes are naturally vulnerable to getting aggressive in competition and often leading to an outburst. But not everything has to have a deep rooted issue behind it.
