With Kings guard Dennis Schroder serving out a three-game suspension, more details on the growing beef between him and Luka Doncic have finally been revealed. Speaking on NBA Today Tuesday, ESPN’s Shams Charania confirmed that the rivalry has been brewing since the offseason, specifically since their encounter at the 2025 EuroBasket.
“Dennis Schroder camped out and waited for Luka Doncic in the back hallways of Crypto.com Arena,” said Shams. “When he saw him, and had somewhat of an alone moment, he confronted him, and he attempted to swing on him and strike him with his hand. The league concluded that it was an attempt to, and that he didn’t actually strike Luka Doncic in the face.”
“My understanding is that Luka Doncic had been calling him the b-word for the last few games, even going back to the offseason when they played each other in Olympic play. Dennis Schroder’s point is, if you’re gonna call me the b-word on the court, you have to expect that I’m not just gonna take that lightly off the court. The three-game suspension is no coincidence; it happened right before these two teams played. I’m sure the NBA reviews video surveillance.”
Of course, Doncic was one of the featured names in EuroBasket this past summer. After being traded months earlier, he was in the best shape of his life, and it earned widespread praise from teammates and coaches. Still, it was Germany who went on to win the tournament. In fact, it was Germany (led by Schroder) who eliminated Doncic’s national team in a huge comeback win.
Schroder was named EuroBasket MVP for his performance, finishing the summer with averages of 20.3 points, 7.2 assists, and 3.4 rebounds per game, including 16 points and 12 assists in the final game against Turkey. We may never know what happened between him and Doncic to set off their mutual resentment, but it only escalated as they bumped shoulders over the course of the regular season.
The last straw was the Lakers’ game on December 28. With Luka delivering his usual trash talk (in a 125-101 win over the Kings), Schroder finally had enough and took it upon himself to pursue Doncic after the game. After months of trash talk and personal name-calling, Dennis wanted Luka to pay for his disrespect, telling him that he ‘can’t call him a b*tch on the court and pretend like everything is fine.’
They broke up the fight before any contact was made, and then followed it up by suspending Schroder so that he was not available for Monday’s rematch against the Lakers. Schroder’s response was to cast doubt on the word ‘attempting’ in his encounter with Luka Doncic, implying that his swing was more than successful. Still, whether he made contact or not, he must serve this punishment all the same. He’s missed two games already and is slated to miss a third, with the soonest he can return being on Friday’s home game against the Washington Wizards.
After that, it won’t be months until the Lakers and Kings meet again. Their fourth and final meeting of the season is on March 1, with both Schroder and Doncic slated to be available. The NBA is hoping that both sides will cool off by then, but Schroder may not let this go so easily.
After practically camping out in the hallways of the stadium for a chance at Luka, it seems likely that he may try something for their next game. At the very least, we can expect Doncic and the Lakers to be on guard as they look to avoid any risk for a physical altercation.
