Luka Doncic Seemingly Blames LeBron James For Lakers Loss

Getty

Luka Doncic #77 of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts after a swipe to the face by Moritz Wagner #21 of the Orlando Magic during the first quarter of an NBA game at Crypto.com Arena on February 24, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.

A lot of confusion ensued in the final possession of the Los Angeles Lakers‘ heartbreaking 109-108 loss to the Orlando Magic on Tuesday. With 7.0 seconds left, the Lakers ran a nice ATO play to get Luka Doncic an open look, but the Slovenian instead passed the ball to LeBron James, who missed an off-balance, heavily contested three as the buzzer sounded.

So, why did Doncic pass up the open look?

According to several social media accounts, Doncic could be heard saying that James asked him to pass the rock on the final possession, so he did.

“He told me to pass, I passed,” Doncic was heard saying, shrugging after the loss.

Luka seemingly blames LeBron on the final possession 😳

“He told me to pass, I passed”

Wow, look at the last possession again!! LeBron is yelling for the ball the entire time. That’s why he hesitated!! 🤯🤯

Watch what Luka Doncic says at the end here:

“He told me to pass, I passed”

Was LeBron trying to sabotage the Lakers right there!?

Luka Doncic Takes Accountability

For what it’s worth, Doncic took blame for making an ill-advised pass to James, who shot 30.3% from threee entering Tuesday’s game.

“I knew I was open, but I just thought it was a little bit far,” Luka said after the loss, via BasketNews.

“I tried to take one dribble closer and… probably should have picked up the ball and just tried to attack.

“I mean, I just saw him [LeBron] open, and I didn’t want to lose the ball, and we didn’t have timeouts,” he added. “Like I said, I should have picked up the ball, should have attacked. I thought he was gonna get a better look. So, that’s on me.”

Luka on his final shot: “I know I was open but I thought I was a little bit far”

Lakers Drew Up Play For Luka

Lakers head coach JJ Redick confirmed that the ATO play was run specifically to get Doncic the final shot.

“We obviously ran a play for [Luka] to get a look. I felt like we had a decent shot,” Redick said.

JJ Redick on the Lakers’ final possession:

“We obviously ran a play for [Luka] to get a look. I felt like we had a decent shot.”

Meanwhile, James sounded perplexed that Doncic passed up the open shot.

“Obviously, you have to ask Luka what he saw on that,” James said, via Lakers Daily.

“I thought he had a good look. … I was kind of off balance when he gave it to me. I thought he had a great look.”

With the loss, the Lakers (34-23) slipped back to the sixth seed in the Western Conference but remain 2.0 games ahead of the seventh-seeded Phoenix Suns (33-26). Fortunately for the Lakers, the Suns’ injury woes could allow them to keep their top-six seed intact.

Sai Mohan covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sports writer with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit, International Business Times, Hindustan Times and more. More about Sai Mohan

Source link

Luka Doncic Takes Accountability

Lakers Drew Up Play For Luka

Leave a Reply Cancel reply