"Luka's stock took a major hit": Jay Williams doesn't hold back in Luka Doncic assessment after poor outing
Luka Doncic came up short in a highly anticipated matchup between the Golden State Warriors and the LA Lakers on Thursday. Both teams clashed with their new trade-deadline acquisitions. Doncic's performance might not have been a concern to Lakers head coach J.J. Redick, but one ESPN analyst voiced his concerns after the Lakers guard's poor outing.
Luka Doncic has continued to play at a superstar level since joining the Lakers before this year's trade deadline in a move that rocked the league.
In 23 games with Los Angeles so far, Doncic has averaged 26.8 points, 8.4 rebounds and 7.9 assists per contest. However, he struggled on Thursday against the Warriors, making only six of 17 attempts and missing his six 3-pointers.
He scored 19 points and had only one turnover, but the Lakers lost 123-116.
According to ESPN's Jay Williams, though, his performance hurts his outlook, especially in the postseason.
Jay Williams appeared on Friday's episode of "Get Up!" where he joined host Mike Greenberg, NBA insiders Brian Windhorst and Shams Charania and fellow NBA analyst Alan Hahn to discuss Thursday night's game. When asked about how the performance affects Luka Doncic's potential moving forward into the playoffs, Williams didn't hold back.
"Luka's stock took a major hit," Williams said about the Lakers susperstar's reputation after Thursday's game. "This is a concerning issue, guys, that we've been talking about. If you're gonna be a liability on the defensive end, then you need to be prolific on the offensive end."
Doncic has put up similar counting stats since joining LeBron James in Los Angeles, but his efficiency on the offensive end has been subpar. Williams said as much, saying that Doncic is far too much of a target defensively for Lakers opponents not to be at his best as a scorer and playmaker.
Did Thursday night's game reveal one of Luka Doncic and the Lakers' biggest weaknesses?
One of the biggest things that can be taken away from the Lakers' trade for Luka Doncic at the deadline was that they had to send Anthony Davis out to make it happen.
The Lakers sacrificed size in the post, especially after backing off a deal for Charlotte's Mark Williams. As a result, the Lakers have vulnerabilities on defense that will be exposed by opponents, most prominently in Doncic.
While the Slovenian showed the ability to be engaged defensively en route to last season's NBA Finals, he has overall been graded as an underwhelming defender during his career in the league.
The LA Lakers, however, lack the support cast that can mask for Doncic on bad perimeter defense, so he is more susceptible to being picked on during the playoffs.
Doncic has been inefficient since donning the purple and gold, shooting 41.2% from the field. However, he has established himself as one of the league's biggest playoff risers, taking his game to another level in the postseason.
If he can reach that level alongside LeBron James and Austin Reaves, then his performance on Thursday night could be disregarded as just one bad night.