Who taught a Hesitation abd a missed shot against Magic would put Luka Doncic on the firing line. While the Lakers star leads the league in points, the uncharacteristic display of the buzzer-beater has only increased the scrutiny. His flaw of excessive complaining to the referee was already a talking point; now, a former Coach of the Year highlights another flaw.

“Who really wants to play with Luka?” Former NBA head coach and 2007 Coach of the Year Sam Mitchell offered a pointed critique on SiriusXM NBA Radio. ” If you’re a young player who wants to play basketball, run, cut, move, and play both ends of the floor, how are you going to feel when your best player, your star player, the player that has all the juice, doesn’t play defense? And nothing is said to him. And then everybody else is held to a different accountability. Everybody else has to play defense. Everybody else has to run back and transition. Everybody else has to do all these things.

But you watch on tape time and time again, Luka does none of it. And no one says anything. Or if they say anything, it’s empty because there’s nothing you can do. How do you think that’s going to work? And at some point, NBA players who like to play basketball, who want to participate, they’re going to get tired of just standing in the corner watching Luka decide to throw me the ball with two seconds on the shot clock. ‘And now I got to take a bad shot.'”

The numbers provide context for Mitchell’s argument.

Despite losing weight in the off-season, defensively, this has been the worst season of his career. His current individual defensive rating of 115 is the lowest in his career. Since their best player is struggling on that end of the floor, the Lakers are also just 23rd among 30 teams in defensive rating.

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Lack of effort from Luka Doncic is not a new criticism. Just like Mitchell, even Pacers legend turned analyst Reggie Miller has been vocal about the issues of the Lakers star. This coincides with him arguing with the referees and thus being a few seconds slow to get a stop on the rival. While the issues at the defensive end are not new, the 6x All-Star form sees a massive dip on the offensive end.

Luka Doncic’s hesitation amid personal Lakers slump

It was an out-of-bounds play to get Luka the ball, but he hesitated after catching the ball. This provided the Magic players an opportunity to close down, so it led to a rushed pass to LeBron James, who bricked up at the buzzer. After the game, Doncic admitted the moment didn’t feel right.

“I know I was open, but I just thought I was a little far and tried to take one dribble closer. Probably should have picked up the ball. Just try to attack.” While his admission and responsibility are good signs, his numbers over the past week have slipped.

Over his last three games, Doncic has shot under 40 percent from the field and below 60 percent from the free-throw line. At the same time, criticism of his in-game reactions has returned. The Lakers now sit near the bottom of the league in defensive rating, despite the return of the Big 3 from injury. However, the worst career record for defense, constant complaining to the officials, a drop in production, and now missing the key shot only add more pressure on the Lakers’ superstar.