LeBron James, in the second game of the first-ever 23rd season as an NBA player, witnessed his current teammate scorch his former teammate. He’d probably never want to be on the wrong side of Luka Doncic ever after this one. Because the 26-year-old was absolutely merciless to a man 11 years his senior. It seemingly wasn’t enough for Luka that the Lakers beat the Utah Jazz for the second consecutive time, he hit a personal record and had another double-double. He just had to do that to Kevin Love! Now, instead of a Luka parade, fans are sad for Kevin.

Kevin Love is younger than Bron, in his 18th season, and could maybe also play three more years like his old friend. But Doncic has been making things hard for him since his Dallas days.

The latest torture came in the second quarter of Sunday’s game at the Delta Center. With 4:43 left on the clock, Doncic intercepted a poor pass from Love. Okay, that’s fine. Just another day in the life of an NBA player. But what came next will go down in Internet infamy.

Luka dribbled the ball between Kevin’s legs for a transition attack, threw the lob to Jaxson Hayes, who slammed it in and put the Lakers up 52-47. Luka had the Utah crowd on their feet, thrilled by the superstar action the Lakers brought to Salt Lake City. But oh, poor Kevin. He didn’t deserve to get ‘nutmegged.’

Kevin Love has to reconsider his future because of Luka Doncic

Fans were immediately up in arms against Luka Doncic. It was cruel, harsh, hilarious, and entertaining. Someone likened it to “Elder abuse,” and said, “Luka Doncic can’t be doing that to Kevin Love. Not fair 😂”

Considering how Kevin Love was a little shaky in that whole play, some wondered if age is catching up to him. Because this moment is being replayed online over and over again with a specific tag – “Kevin Love got his “time to retire moment.”

If ‘Welcome to the NBA’ moments were wild. This is worse. Love’s salt-and-pepper hair has never made him look older than today. The 37-year-old played 13 minutes and had 4 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists.

If we could look into a crystal ball, we might see Kevin Love on a podcast some years from now talking about November 23, 2025, as the day he knew it was time to retire. We’re not the only ones. “kevin love i love you and you’ve had a great career but i can tell you’ll be talking about this moment in 2 years on a podcast about knowing it’s time to retire.”

It might be harsher considering 40, almost 41, LeBron had a very productive 17-point outing against the Jazz. Instead of guessing James’ retirement, we should be keeping an eye out for a press conference in Utah. “Love retiring this year and this is gonna be the clip he talks about that helped him realize it was over.”

A few said that Kevin Love was kind not to retaliate. Most fans threw up clips of other ‘nutmegged’ players causing a scuffle to suggest how Love should’ve reacted. “If I’m Kevin love I’m doing this, I’m not getting embarrassed in front of thousands of people respectfully.” Maybe it’s an elderly thing to give the kids a pass.

The youngsters like Lauri Markkanen are carrying the Jazz. So this is all looking like the scene from Kung Fu Panda. Even that highlight is being accompanied by the GIF and comments like, “@kevinlove I got the perfect video for your next IG post ‘My time has come, you must continue your journey without me.” But Oogway was more sprightly than Kevin Love last night.