The Los Angeles Lakers’ slump has generated a lot of buzz in the NBA, with their championship aspirations seemingly fading with each passing game. There were signs of impending doom even early on in the 25/26 season, when they were winning. Most of them were centered around defense, and now, Luka Doncic is being crucified for being the worst of the lot.

Doncic is still putting up MVP-level numbers on offense, but it’s their defense that’s heavily contributing to losses. Analyst Chris Mannix recently spoke about how Doncic, who joined the Lakers in a shocking trade last February, is a “huge problem” for the purple and gold.

Mannix spoke about the Slovenian’s habit of trying to get a foul on every offensive play by complaining to the referees, which, for a brief — but very significant — few seconds, leaves the Lakers down 4v5 on the court.

“Luka Doncic often displays minimal effort on the defensive end,” he said on the Open Floor podcast. “Luka Doncic, more often, complains to the referees, and when he does, he leaves the Lakers playing four on five.” 

Mannix then hit the Lakers where it would certainly hurt the most. He brought up the Christmas game loss against the Houston Rockets, which was arguably their worst performance of the season.

“Go back to that Christmas Day game,” he continued. “How many times did Luka Doncic think that Amen Thompson fouled him? Or Tari Eason fouled him? He allowed his frustrations with the officials to consume him…” 

Defensive vulnerability was always going to be a question mark for this Lakers side, who otherwise, on paper, had what it takes to be one of the best in the West. Even experts like Kendrick Perkins shed light on that before. And when your best player, who’s arguably the best scorer of his generation, has zero effort on defense, it creates a problem.

Doncic cannot be dropped. He’s too good. But at the same time, his not focusing on defense will continue to hurt the Lakers. “In a best-case scenario, [Luka] is a below-average defender… but too many times he’s leaving the Lakers high and dry, to play four on five.” 

Mannix doesn’t expect LeBron James, at the age of 41, to be the best defender anymore. He also threw some shade at Austin Reaves for not giving 100% in defense. But he opined that, when head coach JJ Redick complained about some players “making the same mistake over and over again,” he was talking about Doncic.

Currently, the Lakers are on a three-game losing streak. Next, they play the 8-23 Sacramento Kings on Sunday.