The Los Angeles Lakers dropped to 20-11 following a brutal 128-106 blowout loss to the Detroit Pistons at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday. This was another woeful defensive display by the Lakers, and Reggie Miller called out Luka Doncic on NBC’s broadcast for his lack of effort in the second quarter.
“Look at Luka right here,” Miller said. “It’s okay, Luka, to move your feet a little bit over and help out. What does he do? He just throws up his hands. This would be frustrating for me.”
Hall of Famer Reggie Miller calls out Luka’s defensive effort: “Look at Luka right here. It’s OK, Luka, to move your feet a little bit over and help out. What does he do? He just throws up his hands. This would be frustrating for me.”
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— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) December 31, 2025
Now, to be fair to Doncic, Jalen Duren did commit a flagrant foul there by elbowing Jake LaRavia. You get why the arms were up in the air, but you’d rather see him try to offer some resistance as Duren drives to the rim and then do the complaining once the play is over.
We’ll get to the defending part in a bit, but Doncic needs to cut down on the complaining in general. It doesn’t do him or the Lakers any good when he’s too busy arguing with the officials instead of focusing on the game. There have been one too many occasions this season where he hasn’t sprinted back on defense because he was busy expressing his frustrations with the officials over a non-call.
The Lakers are awful at transition defense as it is, and Doncic makes them all the worse when he does that. They gave up 31 fast-break points to the Pistons here, and that is a recipe for disaster.
The Pistons finished the night shooting 48-76 (63.1%) from the field and 11-24 (45.8%) from beyond the arc. The Lakers just continue to let teams score at will. They have now allowed opponents to shoot 48.7% from the field this season, the fifth-highest mark in the NBA.
Only the Sacramento Kings (49.7%), Utah Jazz (49.2%), New Orleans Pelicans (48.8%), and Charlotte Hornets (48.7%) have allowed a higher percentage than the Lakers. That is definitely not the company you want to keep.
Of course, it doesn’t help when your best player isn’t a positive on the defensive end. There was hope that Doncic’s getting in better shape this past summer would lead to a noteworthy improvement in his defense. We have seen some good moments from the five-time All-Star, but not enough of them.
It’s easy to pile on Doncic, but the Lakers should have known his flaws better than most. If you want to achieve ultimate glory with the Slovenian as your top dog, you need to surround him with good defenders. The Lakers have not done that, and the flaws look as glaring as ever thanks to that.
While Doncic’s defense hasn’t been great, there are actually some concerns on the offensive end, too. The 26-year-old put up 31.0 points per game in December, which is amazing, but he shot 44.1% from the field and 28.9% from beyond the arc. He also averaged 5.2 turnovers per game.
Now, these are areas where you should be demanding a lot better from Doncic. He is a terrific bad shot maker, and it’s great when they go in, but they didn’t this month. Better shot selection might help Doncic get back into the groove, but you know he is going to keep jacking up those wild deep threes. It’s just who he is.
As for the turnovers, we saw the worst of Doncic on that front against the Pistons. He had 30 points (9-22 FG), five rebounds, and 11 assists on the night, but also committed eight turnovers. With how often Doncic has the ball, you can understand some miscues, but not these many.
The Lakers can live with Doncic’s defensive struggles to an extent when he’s tearing apart the opposition by playing near-flawless offensive basketball. He has not been doing that lately.
Perhaps the new year will bring a change in the Lakers and Doncic’s fortunes. They take on the Memphis Grizzlies next at Crypto.com Arena on Friday at 10:30 PM ET.
