Luka Doncic led the way as the Los Angeles Lakers made it three wins in a row by beating the New Orleans Pelicans 110-101 at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday. While Doncic impressed with his play, he also drew the ire of Pelicans color analyst and former NBA player Antonio Daniels.
Doncic has come under fire lately for complaining too much to the officials, and Daniels ripped him in the second quarter when he was arguing with referee JB DeRosa.
“This is the frustrating part about Luka,” Daniels said. “As great as he is, and he is great, you lead the NBA in free throw attempts. So, you complain when they call it, you complain when they don’t call it. It comes a point where sometimes you just got to play.”
Pelicans announcer WENT OFF on Luka:
“This is the frustrating part about Luka. You lead the NBA in free throw attempts, so you complain when they call it, you complain when they don’t call it. It comes to a point where you just gotta play.”
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As Daniels pointed out, Doncic leads the NBA with an average of 10.4 free throw attempts per game. The 27-year-old is the only player in double digits, but still constantly berates the officials about not getting fouls.
That said, Doncic wasn’t complaining here about a foul not being called. The six-time All-Star felt Pelicans center DeAndre Jordan committed a lane violation when he was attempting a free throw moments earlier.
Doncic would miss the free throw and was furious that the officials did not penalize Jordan for stepping into the lane before he shot it. The 27-year-old then sank the second free throw and started complaining again, which led to DeRosa giving him a technical.
A frustrated Doncic then seemed set to put himself at risk of an ejection as he made his way towards DeRosa, but Austin Reaves fortunately stepped in. Still, the Slovenian now has 14 technical fouls this season, and he’ll be suspended if he gets two more.
With all the complaining Doncic is doing, it would be quite a shock if he doesn’t get to 16 before the end of the regular season. You’d like to see him stop, but this is just who he is, and The Ringer’s Zach Lowe and Max Kellerman are fed up with him.
Lowe thinks the complaining is getting out of control at this point. He went as far as to say it’s making the superstar guard unwatchable. As for Kellerman, he roasted Doncic by stating that if he ever gets a statue outside the arena, it’ll be of him with his arms out, complaining. They are far from the only ones who have called him out, too.
Doncic has admitted in the past that his complaining to the officials is a problem, but he hasn’t been able to fix it. With how deep he is into his career now, it’s unlikely things are going to get much better.
Getting back to the game, Doncic put up 27 points (10-22 FG), 10 rebounds, seven assists, and one block as the Lakers improved to 37-24 on the season. They’ll take on the Denver Nuggets next at Ball Arena on Thursday at 10 p.m. ET.
