The perceived verbal altercation between birthday boy Luka Doncic and JJ Redick quickly overshadowed the near-perfect basketball that the Los Angeles Lakers played on Saturday against the Warriors. While there is no clear answer on what led to the altercation or who was at fault, what matters is that the Purple and Gold comfortably won the game. However, former Dallas Mavericks player Charlie Villanueva has addressed the situation, and according to him, the courtside incident is more a reflection on the Slovenian than Redick, who had nothing but praise for Doncic in subsequent media interviews.

“That’s what they say with the Luka s—, the emotions get the best of him, always crying to the refs, but it’s a bad look when you are doing it to your coach,” Villanueva said on To The Baha. “Coach is trying to talk to you. Whether coach is right, wrong, or whatever it is. You got to remember there is f—— 20 thousand people and they got m———— cameras everywhere. You have to be mindful of that s—.”

The tense situation between the Lakers’ superstar and his coach unfolded mid-game when Redick subbed Doncic out, who looked visibly upset. As the Slovenian walked away, Redick tried to pull him aside and talk to him with a smile on his face. They exchanged a few words before Redick followed him to the bench. Seconds later, the coach appeared to say something sternly to him and walked away. Doncic tried to dap him, but received nothing in return.

That’s when the Slovenian stood up and appeared to approach Redick from behind. Jarred Vanderbilt immediately prevented Doncic from doing anything further. Even though Villanueva thinks that disagreeing with the coach isn’t a big deal, there are better ways to do it.

“If he took you out or you don’t like something, address him at halftime, address him after the game, address him the next day, or wherever it is,” the former Mavericks player said. “But you’re doing it in front of everybody, you’re showing him up, says a lot about Luka, more than it does JJ.”

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On the other hand, Redick, after the subsequent win against the Sacramento Kings, only had nice things to say about Doncic, calling him a “daring” and “special” player.

However, while the internet continues to claim that the altercation signaled a broken relationship between Doncic and his coach, one key individual in LA feels it is perfectly normal.

Why Rich Paul believes the friction between JJ Redick and Luka Doncic is “healthy” in the long term

In Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals, then Cleveland Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue berated LeBron James during halftime for not doing more. While James felt it was unfair to him, he saw the bigger picture. To this day, he considers Lue one of the best coaches he’s ever known. A first-time head coach berating arguably the greatest player in NBA history, and winning the title an hour later, represents the positive side of a passion-filled argument between coaches and their stars.

According to Rich Paul, what happened on Saturday will lead to better results for the Lakers and a stronger relationship between the coach and his superstar.

“That means there’s a profound respect for the player, and there should be a profound respect for the coach,” Paul said on Game Over. “It ultimately leads to a healthy relationship…. When things happen in such a media-robust environment, we’re looking for the drama of it all. The reality of it is, these guys are getting paid a lot of money to do a high-level job. The fact that there’s care shown, passion shown, and competitive nature shown, I think that’s healthy.”

The great Gregg Popovich candidly criticized Tim Duncan in front of the entire team, and the latter sat down quietly because he understood the bigger message. Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson never shared an overly friendly relationship, but respected each other for their credibility, which led to two more championships in the post-Shaquille O’Neal era. Pat Riley never took it easy on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, too.

Keeping this historical context in mind, will the Redick-Doncic altercation unlock something for the Lakers? Perhaps it will.