Luka Doncic is one of the very best players in the NBA today, but Los Angeles Lakers legend Michael Cooper certainly isn’t his biggest fan.
On the latest episode of the Showtime Podcast with Michael Cooper, Cooper played ‘Start, Bench, and Cut’ with Doncic, Damian Lillard, and Kyrie Irving, and surprisingly didn’t start the Slovenian.
Cooper cut Irving because he and Lillard are the same players. He then explained he likes fast and athletic players, which is why Doncic doesn’t start.
“Luka gives you that triple-double almost any night, but he’s too slow for me,” Cooper stated. “If he wasn’t a scorer, I would cut him. But he can score, you got to give the guy credit. To me, he is lazy, doesn’t hustle back on defense.”
Cooper isn’t the first to call Doncic slow and lazy, and he won’t be the last. The Dallas Mavericks star’s reputation certainly took a hit during the 2024 NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics.
Doncic had many lapses on the defensive end against the Celtics and wasn’t hustling either. I do have some sympathy for the 25-year-old, though, as he was playing through injury and his movements were clearly a bit restricted.
Despite all that, Doncic still averaged 29.2 points, 8.8 rebounds, 5.6 assists, and 2.6 steals per game in the Finals. He was by far the best player for the Mavericks and I certainly didn’t place much of the blame on him for them losing in five games.
Getting back to Cooper’s comments, his not being Doncic’s biggest fan perhaps isn’t all that surprising when you consider the kind of player he was. He won DPOY in 1987 and made eight All-Defensive teams in his 12-year career with the Lakers. It would only make sense for Cooper to gravitate toward players who play the way he did, and Doncic certainly doesn’t.
Following the 2024 NBA Finals, former NFL star LeSean McCoy made some bizarre comments regarding Luka, that make Cooper’s comments seem not all that harsh. McCoy went as far as to say Doncic was the worst All-Star he had ever seen.
“Luka is the worst All-Star I’ve ever seen in my life,” McCoy said. “He can score the ball, he can pass the ball, he can rebound and all that. He has no effort on defense. He don’t want to play defense. He don’t hustle for no loose balls, he don’t hustle for no loose rebounds.”
“He has no type of urgency of playing solid basketball, and I will not let my son, that wants to be a basketball player…. I will not allow him to watch his tape. I don’t want you to learn from a superstar like that. No hustle. No attitude. No care. Crazy.”
McCoy went a bit too far there. We have seen a fair few All-Stars over the years not give any effort on defense and not hustle on the court either. I also completely disagree with McCoy on Doncic not caring, as the five-time All-Star wouldn’t have even been out on the court if that was the case. He was injured and I think people need to cut him a bit of a slack.