The Los Angeles Lakers are on the verge of elimination and while their series with the Minnesota Timberwolves isn’t over, it sure feels like it. The Timberwolves took a 3-1 lead over the Lakers with a 116-113 win in Minneapolis on Sunday afternoon and Lakers fans already have one eye toward Game 5 and the other looking at what went wrong.
A move that will be second-guessed is the Lakers’ decision to make the blockbuster trade for Luka Doncic. The Lakers gave up Anthony Davis and several ancillary pieces that made fans double-check their phones late on Feb. 1 and seemed like a fleecing as the Dallas Mavericks gave Los Angeles it’s next superstar when LeBron James hangs up his sneakers.
But while the move looks great, it already has come with consequences and the Lakers are finding out as the Timberwolves have taken control of the series.
Luka Doncic’s Defense Has Played Pivotal Role in Series Against Timberwolves
Going by his statistics, Doncic has been a menace in the playoffs. He’s averaging 30.8 points, seven rebounds and five assists in the first four games of the series against the Timberwolves and it doesn’t seem like Minnesota has an answer to keep him from posting monster stat lines. But while he’s putting up great fantasy numbers, his defense has been a problem, which was highlighted by respected NBA insider Zach Lowe on Monday.
“You have to get humiliated at the beginning of every single playoff series before you show the world, like, ‘Yeah, I can actually put in a little bit more effort on defense,” Lowe said on The Zach Lowe Show on Monday. “Because if you go back and you watch Game 1 and 2 of [the 2022 Western Conference Semifinals series between the Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns], he is so bad defensively that it’s laughable. And then all of a sudden, he becomes passable and yet again, here we are. We’re four games into this series, and he’s just helpless.”
The stats back Lowe’s assessment up. Anthony Edwards is averaging 29.8 points, 7.8 rebounds and 5.8 assists in the series. Jaden McDaniels is averaging 19.8 points and 7.3 rebounds after averaging 12.2 points and 5.7 rebounds in the regular season. Naz Reid has also been a matchup problem with 13.8 points per game off the bench and Doncic has been put in a blender throughout all of it.
But while Doncic has carried the load offensively, there’s also a glaring hole in the middle of the lineup. The Lakers have gotten into the head of Rudy Gobert, who has 3.5 points and just 6.3 rebounds per game in the series. But Julius Randle is averaging 22.5 points and 5.3 rebounds over the first four games. Randle’s production highlights a glaring issue in the frontcourt that hasn’t been filled with Jaxon Hayes and highlights the departure of Davis, who was shipped out to bring in Doncic.
Davis has been injured for most of the time since he was moved to Dallas and there were whispers that he was disgruntled with the idea of playing the center position when he feels he’s more of a power forward. But Davis said in an interview earlier this month that he never wanted to leave Los Angeles and his presence would have slowed the Timberwolves' frontcourt down and provided an extra layer of security, whereas Doncic has been a turnstile on the perimeter.
Lowe touched on this point, admitting that he or any NBA executive wouldn’t have done the Doncic-for-Davis swap if they were in the Mavericks' position. But he also said that there were some officials that agreed with the idea of trading Doncic before he signed a Supermax extension because of his defensive deficiencies.
“You can find corners of smart NBA people, team people, who would tell you the idea of getting out ahead of this and trading Luka is not a crazy idea,” Lowe said. “The idea of doing it without shopping him to get nine first-round picks and swaps and doing this specific trade is where the logic falls apart. I still think it’s a crazy trade, but I’m just tired of, like, I’m going to be embarrassed until our backs are against the wall, and then I’m going to show you that, ‘Yeah, I can put up a little bit of a fight.’ How about you put up a f—--g fight in like, Game 1? …Now you’re down 3-1 and you’re probably going home.”
The long-term decision to add Doncic remains a good one and perhaps a full offseason can get something out of the 26-year-old defensively. But that doesn’t help the position the Lakers are in now, making what could be a great long-term trade a short-term mistake.