JJ Redick and Luka Doncic had already clashed a few games ago due to their competitive nature. This time, the head coach had a moment with one of his assistants. It became more chaotic as the Slovenian star of the team was calling for his attention to bail him out.

The Lakers began the game poorly and missed 8 straight shots. Fortunately, they would win the game by a sizable difference, 120-106. In the fourth frame, the Purple and Gold team was up by 21, and a foul was called against Luka Doncic for swatting the ball away from Rudy Gobert. However, Luka was animatedly gesturing, clapping, and pleading for a coach’s challenge on a called foul, which they agreed.

After the game, the reporters asked JJ Redick how he decided to challenge the call. Interestingly, the head coach never saw the moment as he was arguing with assistant Scott Brooks.

“I actually don’t know what happened on that challenge. Cuz I was telling Scotty Brooks to shut the f— up. Cuz he does this thing every time we have a big lead of like coming over to me and trying to make substitutions. There was six minutes on the clock and I was like, ‘No, get away from me. Get away from me.'”

Brooks, a former OKC Thunder HC, served assistant to the Trail Blazers before joining the JJ Redick staff. With the lead of 21, the assistant wanted to safeguard the players, but the head coach felt the starters needed to play a few more minutes. Amid this discussion, Luka Doncic asked for a challenge from his head coach. Thankfully, Redick had another assistant to his rescue.

“And then Beau told me to challenge. So, I trust Beau. Beau trusts Luka. I mean that I asked him. I said, ‘What happened on that challenge?’ He said, ‘Luka was adamant,’ And I was like, ‘All right, great. We gotta do that.'”

When JJ Redick raised his hand for the signal, Luka Doncic walked back to the bench with a smile. The call was also overturned as Beau Levesque was aware of what was happening. He joined the Lakers after spending four years as a player development coordinator for the LA Clippers and was also an assistant video coordinator and player development/video for the Nets.

With the challenge available, Luka Doncic’s plea reached Levesque, who convinced JJ Redick to take the call. But that’s not always the case. Against the Knicks, the Lakers were up by five with a minute remaining for halftime. The Slovenian received his third foul call and wanted to challenge it immediately. But Levesque shook his head and said no. His frustration would later boil over and earn him a five-digit fine.

The league sent a strong message to Luka Doncic

Despite leading the league with 32.5 points per game, the criticism against the 6x All-Star is simple. The constant arguing with the officials for calls that didn’t go in his favor. In fact, he leads the league in 10.2 FTA per game, meaning he is getting the whistle. This was also evident against the Knicks, as he was unhappy with the call, and his reaction earned him a $50,000 fine.

During the third quarter, Luka Doncic lost his rhythm and turned the ball over, triggering a 3-on-1 fast break by New York. The Slovenian was the last defender and rushed to defend and tried to take charge, but Knicks’ Mohamed Diawara dumped off a pass to his teammate, Josh Hart, for an easy layup. Despite Doncic going down after making contact with Diawara, the whistle was not in the Lakers star’s favor.

The 27-year-old was frustrated by this and also possibly by the second-quarter incident. While sitting on the floor, appeared to make the money sign at the referee. After the game, the league announced, “$50,000 for directing an inappropriate and unprofessional gesture toward a game official.” Apart from financial issues, Doncic is already on 15 technical fouls, the second most in the NBA.

That’s why the assistant coaches on JJ Redick’s team have to be extra careful in listening to their star player.