With less than seven seconds left on the clock, the Lakers had a side inbounds after a timeout for the final possession of tonight’s 109-110 loss to the Magic. They drew up a play for Luka Doncic, who got a clear look at the basket but somehow hesitated in taking the final shot before eventually getting doubled on defense.
He threw the grenade with the shot clock ticking down to LeBron James, who was not in a set position to take the final shot. Therefore, he was forced to attempt a tough fadeaway shot from beyond the arc, which hit the rim but did not go in. As a result, the Lakers lost a game they once led by 12 points.
Why did Luka pump fake an open shot 💀 pic.twitter.com/JfR4CbPxNZ
— BrickCenter (@BrickCenter_) February 25, 2026
Following the loss, the Lakers’ head coach JJ Redick spoke to the media and revealed that the play was drawn up for the Slovenian superstar, and he is perplexed as to why Doncic did not take the shot himself.
“I mean, I haven’t had a chance to really get into it with Luka. We obviously ran a play for him to get a look. You know, I felt like he had a decent shot. I don’t know if he thought Isaac was going to overhelp LeBron there.”
“But I thought you looked at the sequence of events there in the last whatever it was, 36 seconds. We went for a two-for-one. We executed it. We get a wide-open three from Rui; there’s a great shot for us. One of our best shots that we can get. Doesn’t make it, but we get the ball out of bounds on the deflection.”
“We execute our inbounds. Um, AR set a great screen. LeBron created a lot of thrust on that with some red confusion. We scored, and then we got a stop. And are just not able to secure the rebound.”
“And that’s really to me that you go into this game with their size and their strength, you know, it’s you know, it’s going to be a rock fight, and we lose the scoring opportunity by eight in a one-point game. Like that’s the game. We had more turnovers than them. They got more offensive rebounds than us,” said Redick.
The Slovenian guard finished the game one rebound shy of a triple-double. He had 22 points, 15 assists, and nine rebounds while shooting 8-24 from the floor (33.3 FG%) and 2-10 from beyond the arc (20.0 3P%).
LeBron James Gives A Possible Explanation For Luka Doncic’s Hesitation
Even LeBron James spoke to the media after the game about that last look from Doncic. Even he was unsure why Doncic hesitated on the open shot.
“I’m not sure, obviously, you have to ask Luka what he saw on that. I thought he had a good look but just lost his balance or the rhythm of the ball, whatever the case may be.”
“It kind of allowed them to get back in front of him. I was kind of off balance when he gave it to me. I thought he had a great look, but that’s my POV,” said James after the game.
We will have to wait to hear from Doncic before we find out what really went through his head on that final possession. James acknowledged that he wasn’t in the best position himself to take that shot, and it was supposed to be Doncic who took the shot.
The 41-year-old veteran finished the game with 21 points, six rebounds, and four assists while shooting 8-13 from the field (61.5 FG%) and 2-6 from beyond the three-point line (33.3 3P%).
The Lakers fell to 34-23 following tonight’s loss to the Magic. They will hope to beat the Suns in their next game on Thursday to avoid letting this two-game losing skid become a three-game losing streak.
