Despite leading the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA Finals last season, Luka Doncic still has some prominent critics.
Speaking this week on his “Showtime Podcast” for CLNS Media, retired Los Angeles Lakers great Michael Cooper made some harsh comments about the Mavs star Doncic. Cooper was playing a game of “Start, Bench, Cut” with his co-hosts, and Doncic’s name came up at one point. During the segment, Cooper did not hold back on the Slovenian superstar.
“Luka gives you that triple-double almost about every night, but he’s too slow for me,” said Cooper, per Lakers Nation. “If he wasn’t a scorer, I would cut him. I give him credit for that. But to me, he’s lazy. Doesn’t hustle back on defense.”
For the 68-year-old Cooper, who will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame later this year as part of the class of 2024, defense was his calling card. An eight-time All-Defensive selection as well as the NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 1987, Cooper was responsible for checking everybody in his era from Larry Bird to Isiah Thomas. Thus, it makes sense that Cooper would regard defensive-minded players more highly.
Doncic is not a defensive-minded player, and even his head coach on the Mavs acknowledged that during their Finals run this year. But that may be in big part because of the enormous load that Doncic is required to carry on offense (he led the NBA in points last season with 33.9 per game and also in usage rate with 36.0 percent).
The five-time NBA All-Star Doncic, who does have the ability to lock in on certain defensive possessions, will be the first to admit that he is slow and not (traditionally) athletic. But when you consider how much Doncic toiled through physically just to be able to play last postseason, he is probably far beyond the point where he can truly be considered “lazy.”
