The LA city rivalry in an NBA Cup atmosphere? Emotions were already running high. However, the end of the fourth quarter also introduced a personal rift to the contest. Kris Dunn hit Luka Doncic with a “cheap shot”, leading to both teams’ benches having to clear up the scuffle.

Doncic, who dropped a masterful 43 points, tried to confront the Clippers guard for his actions. Dunn pushed him, and was immediately met with Jaxson Hayes coming to his defense. The exchange resulted in the referees having to review every sequence closely. Dunn was ejected with two technical fouls, while Hayes received a technical.

Doncic, having secured a win and qualification for the NBA Cup knockout stages, looked back at the moment as a sign of the Lakers’ closeness. He promised to pay the Lakers center’s fine, and said, “that shows what kind of team we are,”. Amidst this, LeBron James was right behind Doncic as the scuffle unfolded.

He didn’t immediately react. Rather, as players and coaches from both sides arrived to cool things down, James pulled Jaxson Hayes back to defuse the situation. In Year 23, and aged 40, James didn’t see things escalate between Kris Dunn and teammate Luka Doncic. Likewise, maybe judging from that, the Akron Hammer decided not to react, but rather just wait for tempers to cool down.

Luka Doncic continues to invite such moments. “I live for that, so I love it,” he said. He didn’t mind LeBron James not standing up to Kris Dunn. But some of the Laker Nation did.

Laker Nation calls for LeBron James to defend Luka Doncic

“Bro… what is LeBron doing,” one fan wondered. And from first look, it did seem weird. James was closest to the action when Dunn shoved the basketball into Luka Doncic. However, rather than going for Dunn, the four-time MVP stood at the back, letting the action play out. Maybe he trusted ‘The Don’ to not do anything silly, and allowed the intensity of the game to fuel his teammate more.

But a few fans feel there is another reason. “LeBron is way too old for this… He’s like, ok… I’ll hold you back Jaxson … and walks away. He’s already thinking about how to recover from this game,”. And well, soon to turn 41, can you blame James? Having been in numerous confrontations throughout his career, right now his goal is to stay healthy for the remainder of the season. Getting into a fight may risk injury.

Yet, a fan argues, “I know @KingJames you are too old for this but u need to support Luka here common man what is that body language,”. That could have ended up being a technical foul on LeBron James and Hayes. Rather, it seemed like James, knowing the game was settled, tried to calm the tension rather than get involved and make it bigger than what it was. At the end of the day, nobody got hurt, and the Lakers got the win. That’s where the job was done for James.

Still, some wanted to see the Akron Hammer at least try and defend his teammate. “Year 1000 Bron still scared of a scuffle. Jaxon Hayes knows his role. Just the tiniest ON COURT respect for him,” a fan criticized the Lakers star. It likely refers to the time James didn’t want to literally fight off Isaiah Stewart after his elbow caused the Pistons’ bruiser to bleed.

For a player of the stature of LeBron James, such criticism is inevitable. However, with the maturity he has, James knows there’s no point in adding gasoline to the fire when there’s really no point. Such moments are part of the game, and it the situation was defused quickly.

A positive was his performance. The all-time leading scorer notched his first 20+ point game of the season while dishing out six dimes. With the chase for titles on his mind, everything concerning basketball takes on importance. A little defending wouldn’t have gotten him in trouble. But it was a minor issue where even other teammates were slow to approach the incident, knowing it wouldn’t grow into anything malicious.

Do you think LeBron James should have done more? Let us know your views in the comments below.