The Los Angeles Lakers clinched top spot in West Group B of the NBA Cup with a 135-118 win over the Los Angeles Clippers at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday. Superstar guard Luka Doncic was thrilled to get the win and advance to the knockouts, but stated postgame that the Lakers’ court for the cup needs to be changed.
“Adjust the courts, please,” Doncic said. “It’s just slippery, it’s dangerous.”
The Lakers had won their first two cup games on the road, and this was their first one at home. Doncic, who had 43 points (14-28 FG), nine rebounds, 13 assists, one steal, and one block against the Clippers, revealed he could tell pregame that the court was slippery.
“I slipped a lot of times,” Doncic stated. “You could see a lot of players slipped. That’s dangerous, man.”
We did see a lot of players slip during this game, and someone could have very easily gotten hurt. The Lakers or the NBA do need to look into this.
Doncic was later asked whether he felt the courts were slippery in the cup games against the New Orleans Pelicans and the Memphis Grizzlies on the road earlier in the season. The five-time All-Star couldn’t recall if they were, though.
Speaking of the Pelicans, Doncic had raised concerns postgame about how slippery the court was for the cup game between them and the Dallas Mavericks at Smoothie King Center back in November 2023.
“I think the court today was really bad,” Doncic said. “It was really slippery… Some places the ball didn’t really bounce. So, if we’re going to have this court, we got to make sure that it’s stable court, so you can play on it. Like in Dallas, it wasn’t stable, so we had to change it.”
A lot of players had complained about the courts during the inaugural edition in 2023. Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown had even suffered a groin injury after slipping on the Toronto Raptors‘ court. It’s rather concerning that we’re still talking about this being a problem two years later.
Doncic appears to have gotten the Mavericks to change their court back then. You do wonder, though, whether the Lakers can make significant adjustments in time. They’ll be facing off against the Mavericks in the cup at Crypto.com Arena on Friday, so they only have two days to improve/change the court. The players might be forced to play in slippery conditions again in their final group stage game.
JJ Redick On Luka Doncic’s Concerns About The Court
Lakers head coach JJ Redick was informed of Doncic’s concerns in his postgame press conference, and he had a theory for why the players were slipping.
“I mean, we’ll look at it,” Redick said. “I noticed that guys were slipping, but I also noticed that guys were falling prior to that. So, I don’t know… Sometimes courts just don’t dry well when there’s condensation on it. I wish I had the White Goodman quote about sweating right now from Dodgeball, but I don’t. Otherwise, I’d use it. But, yeah, we’ll take a look at it.”
In case you’re unaware, the quote is, “I like to break a mental sweat too.”
Only time will tell whether the Lakers are able to sort this out. If they beat the Mavericks on Friday, they will also be playing the quarterfinals at home. So, the sooner they fix things, the better.
