“He changed the game,” Reaves said when Maxi Kleber hopped in after Ayton limped out, and little did he know the NBA was about to one-up that. Because hours after the Lakers squeezed out a 108–106 win and started practicing their victory poses, the league’s Last Two Minute Report pulled up like, ‘Cute win, but here’s what really happened.’ Suddenly, Kleber wasn’t the only star of the fine print; Marcus Smart got dragged into the spotlight, too. Maybe the confetti cannon should’ve stayed unplugged.

The Athletic’s Dan Woike dropped the reminder nobody in L.A. wanted to hear, sharing the league’s verdict: “Maxi Kleber and Marcus Smart both should’ve been called for fouls in the final 10 seconds of the Lakers tight win in Utah, the NBA says.” And once you peek at the report, it’s hard not to wince. Both plays are stamped with the dreaded “INC” (incorrect non-calls). 

First, at 00:10.5, Kleber apparently clamped and held Jusuf Nurkic’s left arm, messing with his chance to grab the rebound. Then, with the clock bleeding from 00:05.8 to 00:00.0, Marcus Smart joined the party by locking up Keyonte George’s right arm during the inbound. In simple terms? Utah got hugged, the whistle stayed quiet, and the NBA basically showed up later with the receipts.

Interestingly, that missed Kleber call ended up giving the Lakers a pretty helpful push toward the win. Luka Doncic grabbed the rebound, got fouled, and split his free throws to nudge the Lakers ahead by one. On the other end, Keyonte George fired a potential game-winner that clanged out, Utah grabbed the rebound, but the clock betrayed them before they could even try again. 

L.A. walked out with a 12–4 record behind Luka’s monster line: 33 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists. So if those whistles had blown? It’s not like a Lakers loss would’ve been some plot-twist-from-nowhere moment.

Kleber was already in trouble with four fouls in just 14 minutes, so that missed call could’ve easily been the one that sent him out early. He added two points, three rebounds, and a steal, but every second he played felt like he was one whistle away from sitting down.

But the moment fans keep talking about wasn’t his; it was Marcus Smart’s. With 5.8 seconds left, Utah inbounding and down two, Keyonte George tried to run around a screen and Smart knocked him to the floor in the biggest replay of the night.

George, to his credit, didn’t bother adding drama to the moment. “Things like that, you got to let it go,” he said. “Obviously a little frustrated, we lost the game, but… I’m not mad at whatever the last play was or whatever it was. I’m more so mad at myself and our group for taking 24 minutes to pick it up.” In short, yeah, the ending was rough, but Utah knows the real damage was done way earlier.

The Jazz had a rough third quarter, shooting under 40% and staying cold from three all night at under 33%. By the final seconds, they’d used up all their margin. Everything came down to that last shot, and when it missed, all those earlier struggles caught up to them.

Are the refs playing favorites with the Lakers?

The Lakers’ free throw story isn’t new; it’s practically part of their identity at this point. Take Doncic in preseason, for example: during a close matchup against Sacramento, he got bumped on a drive that didn’t get called. Commentator Danny Green didn’t hold back, pointing out the obvious superstar treatment: “Now if that was me dribbling the ball, I understand why he wouldn’t call it, but that’s Luka Doncic… He gets different calls.” 

Even in exhibition games, it’s clear: stars like Luka draw whistles that others don’t, simply because of their status and central role on the offense. Last season alone, Luka drew 197 free throws in 28 games, a number that would push him past 500 attempts over a full season.

Draymond Green added fuel to the debate after the Lakers faced the Warriors. Midway through the quarter, he shouted at the refs: “Free throws is 19 to 0 and LeBron James and Luka is on the bench. Incredible.” Sure, the Lakers drive to the basket more and the Warriors take more threes, but the gap is still obvious. In game after game, including against the Suns, L.A. keeps getting more free throws than their opponents, and it’s hard to ignore.

Even coaches notice it. Last week, Doc Rivers criticized the refs after Luka got contact in a loss to the Lakers, saying defenders weren’t given enough space. He joked that if the rules were like that in his playing days, he could’ve scored eight points a game. Over time, stats, complaints, and superstar whistles all tell the same story; the league doesn’t always call things evenly, and the Lakers keep benefiting from it.