The Los Angeles Lakers enjoyed one of their most comfortable wins of this 2025-26 NBA season on Saturday, when they blew out the Golden State Warriors 129-101 at Chase Center. There were no real negatives to take from the performance, but it appears Luka Doncic and head coach JJ Redick had a bit of an argument at one point.
As Doncic walked off the court after being subbed out, he looked to have ignored Redick, who tried grabbing his hand to get his attention. The superstar and coach then got into a brief back-and-forth once the former reached the bench.
Luka wont stay long with the Lakers if JJ stays. This is not normal behavior between a coach and it’s best player 👀
(@bryantintown) pic.twitter.com/P4264KZbs1
— Jacob (@Jacobtheclipper) March 2, 2026
Doncic got up as well as Redick walked away, and Jarred Vanderbilt appeared to stop him from potentially continuing this argument. While this is somewhat interesting, it is definitely a stretch to claim there are any problems between them. These two were previously teammates on the Dallas Mavericks and have been on good terms for years now.
It wasn’t all that long ago, during a game between the Lakers and Mavericks on Feb. 12, that Doncic and Redick were hilariously throwing jabs at each other over fashion sense. The latter jokingly questioned what kind of jacket the former was wearing and was told he knows nothing about fashion. Doncic would later gift Redick that exact same jacket, so there’s no need to sound the alarm.
Doncic could well just have been frustrated about his play against the Warriors up to that point. By the looks of it, this happened in the first quarter, and the Slovenian had four points on 1-4 shooting from the field in the period. He might not have been interested in hearing whatever Redick had to say in that moment.
Doncic would end up playing better as the game went on. The six-time All-Star eventually finished with 26 points (9-17 FG), six rebounds, eight assists, one steal, and one block.
It was just yet another fine showing from Doncic after struggling just a little bit post the All-Star break. The 27-year-old followed this up by recording 28 points (10-16 FG), five rebounds, nine assists, one steal, and one block in the 128-104 win over the Sacramento Kings on Sunday.
Redick loved what he saw from Doncic on the night. He praised the guard in his postgame press conference for getting the Lakers going with 12 points in the first quarter and for helping them get out of a funk in the third.
“He had a stretch there in the third quarter,” Redick said, via Spectrum SportsNet. “We really struggled. We were struggling to get kind of cohesive offense, and a lot of holding of the basketball, and we called timeout. And I thought that stretch for him, he just made a bunch of amazing plays, and we got our pace back. He split the blitz and scores at the rim. He has the wraparound pass.
“The one pass he threw to Rui [Hachimura], which Rui airballed,” Redick continued. “Just the anticipation… Not every team switches that. They usually track with the five, and they switch with the guy coming off the Chin screen. And he read that before it even happened, and Rui gets a wide-open three. Again, processing speed was spectacular in that stretch.”
Redick was referring to a play late in the third quarter where Doncic found Rui Hachimura open in the corner for a three. Hachimura is one of the better shooters on the team, but somehow shot an airball. It didn’t cost the Lakers the least bit, though, as Doncic’s 13 points in the period had helped them establish a 20-point lead by then. They would cruise to victory.
The Lakers improved to 36-24 with this win over the Kings and will take on the New Orleans Pelicans next at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday at 10:30 PM ET.
