On April 2, 2026, the Los Angeles Lakers faced the defending champions, and the near 50-point blowout loss did not sit well. Anyone watching, from fans to Stan Van Gundy, pointed fingers at Luka Doncic. Even a devastating hamstring injury toward the end was not enough to spare Doncic from criticism of a bizarre habit that proved costly for the Lakers.

Thursday night was marred by more than just that ugly 139-96 visual on the board. NBA on Prime broadcaster Stan Van Gundy put on his coaching hat to roast Doncic’s glaring problem.

“The one thing that drives me crazy with Luka, when he thinks he doesn’t get a call, he just stops and gives up a fast break on the other end… You’re hurting your teammates,” SVG so bluntly put it.

Now, Doncic’s defensive lapses are well known. But this very specific criticism became a social media lightning rod. From the first half of this game alone, fans pulled out about five examples of Luka’s inability to switch to defense in transition.

The ‘evidence’ shows that Austin Reaves made very short passes and DeAndre Ayton committed turnovers. But SVG shifts the focus to Luka Doncic’s abrupt pauses as if he’s waiting for a call from the refs. Maybe it’s Van Gundy’s coaching eye or the existing prejudice against Luka, who’s slipping in MVP odds due to his repeated lobbying for calls. But observers didn’t really agree.

Of the Lakers’ 18 turnovers tonight, Doncic (6) and Reaves (4) combined for half of them. They gave up 24 points off turnovers. The most glaring stat, though, was not the massive score gap, but the Lakers’ 14 fastbreak points compared to OKC’s 34. That seemingly made all the difference.

LakeShow is unable to defend Luka Doncic’s habit

Doncic had those moments in the first half. He took one play right out of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s handbook. He faked a three, making SGA jump, and attempted to bait the reigning MVP into a foul. However, the referee called it fair play, a call which Luka contested.

Everyone and SVG would’ve preferred if Doncic paid attention to the game that didn’t pause for him. While Luka was occupied, SGA had raced to the other end and scored on a fast break. It reinforced SVG’s commentary at that moment.

Doncic has been playing through a hamstring injury, which finally got aggravated tonight. He had to make an early exit from the game, but his defensive liabilities are overshadowing it. That one viral compilation of Luka failing to get on defense to complain about non-calls from last month is back again because of SVG.

His injury now creates a problematic situation. Once again, his habit of prioritizing officiating complaints over transition defense has led to accusations that he is “hurting his teammates” by leaving them stranded in disadvantaged defensive rotations. In contrast, in that one game when Doncic was suspended against the Wizards, LeBron James ran the offense without a pause, including some father-son pick-and-rolls with Bronny.

Some wonder whether Luka Dončić being sidelined for the foreseeable future would reduce stoppages and fix the Los Angeles Lakers’ woes. That’s a slippery question the Lakers will have to answer.