The Los Angeles Lakers have been under intense scrutiny lately, despite winning their last two games. During a game against the Golden State Warriors, cameras caught superstar Luka Doncic locked in an animated discussion with head coach JJ Redick, with multiple teammates (mostly Jarred Vanderbilt) having to hold the star back from reengaging. It sparked league-wide speculation about the star player-coach relationship, but now, NBA insider Dave McMenamin is providing a logical update.

“I checked into this with people around the league and within the team, and I’ll just tell you my reporting,” McMenamin said on NBA Today. “A league source said when he saw the video, ‘LA is different, the smallest thing becomes the biggest thing.’ A source close to Luka told me that him and JJ have a strong, close relationship that dates back nearly a decade, and they’re both fiercely competitive, and they push one another.”

These were just a few of the inside sources McMenamin referred to during his on-air segment. He pointed to a team source, who told him to “find me a star” throughout the league who isn’t annoyed in the middle of a streak of losses.

Entering the game against the Warriors, the Lakers had been struggling. The team had lost three straight and five of its last seven games, and with Doncic being one of the most competitive stars in the league, he was not going to be quiet about his frustration after being subbed out.

Doncic is known to regularly argue with referees, opposing players, and even fans during games, and with first-time coach Redick, also an outspoken personality, some interactions are bound to get heated. According to McMenamin, though, rumors of a rift are overblown.

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“It’s much ado about nothing, but hey, we know the internet likes to have their fun,” McMenamin summed up. “If you have been around an NBA basketball team full of people who live for competition, sometimes it gets a little messy when they’re trying to go towards a common goal.”

Inside Luka Doncic and JJ Redick’s competitive bond that’s over a decade old

As Dave McMenamin described, JJ Redick’s tenure as Lakers head coach wasn’t the first time he interacted with Luka Doncic. The two have had a relationship stretching back to the current coach’s days as a player, and they were even briefly teammates at the Dallas Mavericks in 2021.

Even after Redick retired, they remained close, with Doncic making multiple appearances on his Old Man and the Three podcast. That camaraderie has stretched into their current dynamic in LA. Just a few weeks ago, the duo was caught on camera during a joke-argument about what kind of jacket the Slovenian was wearing.

Soon afterward, the guard gifted his coach the same jacket, catching Redick by surprise and prompting him to say he looked better in the luxury outfit while thanking him.

Knowing how comfortable the two seem around each other, the moment from the sideline against the Warriors is just mild friction, something that’s bound to happen when two heated competitors are working towards the same goal. LeBron James’ agent, Rich Paul, also thought along similar lines and wasn’t too worried about the argument, saying that such back-and-forth only “leads to a healthy relationship.”