Los Angeles Lakers superstar Luka Doncic seems to be coming under fire from all corners lately, and former NBA player Jay Williams is the latest to fire some shots at the Slovenian. Williams was asked on ESPN’s First Take on Thursday whether he trusts Doncic to lead a championship team, and he does not.
“No,” Williams said. “I think Luka is one of the most talented players I’ve ever seen in the history of the game, but I think he has losing habits. I think he has bad habits… His impact on the game is not aligned with the statistical output. You see the crazy numbers, but I don’t know if it impacts winning.
“No. 1 of that is he leads the NBA in turnovers per game,” Williams continued. “The Lakers are one of the worst transition defenses in the league. So that impacts that aspect of it because they’re not good at that. Secondly, was a stat that I saw online that really blew my mind.
“So, of 13 players in the NBA this season who have played in at least 30 games and who have a usage rate of over 30, where do you think Luka is of those 13 players in the NBA this season [in impact]?” Williams added. “…He’s tied for last with Kawhi Leonard, with Kawhi Leonard in impact. And this is in team offensive rating.”
Williams is on point when it comes to the turnovers. Doncic leads the league with 4.1 turnovers per game this season and needs to limit his mistakes. The Lakers are terrible when it comes to transition defense, and he’s making matters worse with how often he’s coughing up the ball.
As for the impact part, you wonder if this statistic always paints an accurate picture. Even if one wants to minimize how good Doncic has been, it can’t be denied that Kawhi Leonard has been simply outstanding for the Los Angeles Clippers this season. If a metric shows that Leonard is tied for last in impact, maybe it shouldn’t be treated as gospel.
Williams wasn’t done there. He raised another issue he has with Doncic, and it’s one many others have brought up as well.
“You see him every single play screaming at the refs, yelling at the refs, and not even getting back in the frame defensively,” Williams stated. “I know a lot of the talk is going to be about LeBron [James]. A lot going be talking is how they can play together, but at some point, I think he’s one of the most talented players, I just don’t know if he’s the leader that people projecting him to be that actually matches his statistical output.”
The Ringer’s Zach Lowe also recently criticized Doncic for constantly complaining to the officials, and rightly so. The 26-year-old needs to cut down on the complaining, but you doubt that it will happen. This is just who he is at this point. This has led to him not always running back quickly on defense, which further hurts the Lakers in transition.
Doncic, who is averaging 32.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, 8.6 assists, 1.4 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game in 2025-26, isn’t perfect by any means, but all this criticism is a bit much. This is a man who led the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA Finals in 2024. Put the right team around him, and he’ll give you a legitimate chance at winning it all.
The Lakers definitely have not surrounded Doncic with the ideal supporting cast. The six-time All-Star needs quality defenders around him, and they don’t have too many of them. That, in turn, means this Lakers season looks likely to end in disappointment.
Doncic will get put on blast for that, and his critics will undoubtedly claim he’s never going to win a title. He will get over the line at some point, though. Doncic is just too good a player to finish his career without a championship ring.
