Al Harrington, the 16-year NBA veteran who last played in the league in 2014, recently sat down for an interview on the ‘To the Baha’ podcast and discussed Luka Doncic in detail with the crew of the show.
While comparing the Lakers superstar to Jalen Brunson, the crew addressed whether Luka Doncic had reached his ceiling. That’s when Harrington began criticizing Doncic’s time with the Lakers so far under LeBron James and JJ Redick’s mentorship.
“I think to his point, like it ain’t all about points. That’s what I’m saying. We know better, we’re hoopers, n—a. It ain’t just about how many points cuz you can get a lot of points and still be a bad player, n—a, or you know, or getting points just because you’re in the environment that you’re in; they need you to score points. You understand what I’m saying?”
“I think with him it’s just like ‘can he get with somebody that can develop his whole game?’ So, like, would you think that going to play with LeBron James, right? And seeing LeBron’s habits and all that kind of s–t would overall like make him better, right?”
“I personally think that probably did not happen because one, I think he’s arrogant. I also think that LeBron is at the point in his career that he probably doesn’t even have the same patience.”
“He probably doesn’t have the same approach, you know what I’m saying? Like, I guarantee like he’s lacking in some s**t probably on the court,” Harrington said.
“Probably not off the court. He’s probably still doing all this s–t with on the ball and keeping his body, you know, perfect, but probably his approach to like on the court s–t probably ain’t the same. So, you know, so dude don’t get a chance to see that.”
“But like I just think that like he’s either going to need a coach, a Popovich type or something that’s somebody that can really like sit him down and like really explain to him and convince him of like what it takes to like be an all-time great basketball player like and to be able to bring in the accolades.”
“Cuz it’s funny, cuz I forgot about the final s–t because when you really think about it, is like as talented as he is and all the issues and problems that he has or whatever, he still has won at the highest level. Like when you really think about it….Yeah, bro. It’s crazy.”
“When I was talking about JB, when I first brought it up, I wasn’t even thinking about the fact that he did just go to the finals two years ago. You know what I’m saying? So even with that being said, they definitely are more even than I, you know, than I was initially thinking about it.”
“But I just think that to Charlie’s point, I think there is another level for him. But I don’t honestly think JJ’s the one to pull it out of him because he played against JJ. Like, it’s just like play, and he played with him. It’s just like that respect is never going to be there.
“It’s always going to be he’s always going to remember the time where in his mind he was sitting there looking at JJ like ‘this f–king bum’ or whatever, you know, whatever it was. You know what I’m saying? Like he’ll never be able to get past that.”
“So he’s going to need somebody with a pedigree. And when you really even think about it, when you think about all the coaches in the league, it ain’t even nobody in the league that has that anymore, right?” Harrington concluded.
In 2025-26, Luka Doncic averaged 33.5 points, 8.3 assists, and 7.7 rebounds while shooting 47.6% from the field and 36.6% from behind the three-point line. The fact that he is already averaging numbers most players will never put up in their careers shows he is an all-time great offensive player.
However, to some extent, Harrington’s point about Doncic’s perception of Redick makes sense when it comes to translating his coaching advice into defensive effort on the court to address his problems on the other end.
But it doesn’t necessarily mean he needs someone at that level mentoring him as his head coach. A defensive-minded assistant head coach like Frank Vogel (who has now joined the Warriors) could do the same work any other elite defensive coach could.
This does not mean JJ Redick is to be blamed for Doncic not unlocking the next level of his game. Doncic, at age 27, is already at a stage in his career where he is mostly set in his ways. And Jason Kidd proved it with the Mavericks in 2024 that a Doncic-led team can still make it to the NBA Finals without him playing elite defense.
So instead of blaming JJ Redick or LeBron James for failing to turn their veteran leadership into playoff results with Doncic, the Lakers’ front office should focus on building the right roster around Doncic and adding the right staff to coordinate the team’s defense better on the court, potentially reaching out to Jason Kidd.
It will be interesting to see whether LeBron James’ exit addresses some of the defensive concerns the Lakers had in 2025-26. And if anything, Redick helped Doncic replicate the performance he put up in his best year (2023-24) with the Mavericks through the regular season.
So let’s not jump to conclusions on what Redick can or cannot do after less than two seasons as Luka Doncic’s head coach.
