NBA champion slams Luka Doncic for ‘contagious’ problem that must be fixed

After a bumpy start to the regular season, the Dallas Mavericks are on their first three-game win streak of the season. Dallas has also finally gotten a two-day rest period with no games, which they’ve seldom had at this juncture in the season.

This rest period just became increasingly crucial for the Mavericks, as it was announced today that superstar Luka Doncic will be re-evaluated in one week after suffering a right wrist sprain against the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday evening. This means Doncic will miss the next three contests for Dallas at the bare minimum, which is a huge blow considering he just missed a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder with a right knee confusion this past Sunday.

Doncic was moving a lot better in his brief one-game return from injury against the Pelicans, as he had 26 points on 10-16 shooting from the field. While maybe not at 100 percent, Doncic looked far more mobile and was more aggressive attacking the basket in that Pelicans game, which really paid dividends for Dallas’ offense all game long.

Doncic also looked better defensively in that contest, which has long been the main subject of criticism when it comes to Doncic’s game. Doncic had three steals in that game, but his early season woes on that end didn’t stop soon enough to be swept under the rug by those in the national media.

Kendrick Perkins calls out Luka Doncic for lack of effort defensively

On a recent episode of “Road Trippin’” on November 7, Kendrick Perkins made a guest appearance with Allie Clifton, Richard Jefferson, and Channing Frye. Perkins hasn’t shied away from both praising and blasting the Mavericks on many occasions in his media career, and this was no different in this episode.

When the topic of Doncic and the Mavericks arose on the show, Perkins was quick to criticize Doncic’s defense this season.

“We got to stop letting Luka off the hook, okay? Now, real talk—enough is enough, right? Like, do you know he's leading the league defensively with blow-bys?" Perkins said. "Do you know he's leading the league? Defensively, he has 43 of them—leading the league.”

This advanced stat that Perkins brought up is fairly alarming, but it doesn’t tell the whole story when it comes to Doncic’s defense this season. Doncic was tied for ninth in the league in deflections per game with 3.4 per game after the Pelicans game, and he’s been a great defender in post-up situations and even when defending against bigger-bodied players on isolations.

The main problem with Doncic’s defense isn’t his physical tools or savviness off-ball to disrupt dribble-hand-offs, but as Perkins later points out in that podcast, it’s simply Doncic’s effort on defense.

“He's not even putting forth the (expletive) effort to go out there defensively," Perkins said. "I'm not asking him to be Derrick White. No one is asking him to be Jrue Holiday. No one's asking him to be Andrew Wiggins. We're asking you to be a leader and put forth some (expletive) effort and fix your body language.”

With as many claims as Perkins has made against Doncic and the Mavericks that are completely out of bounds or hold no stake, he’s not wrong when it comes to this issue. Doncic’s defensive intensity has fluctuated on a night-to-night basis this season, often only cranking the intensity up against better opponents.

Doncic obviously isn’t the worst defender in the league and has proven to hold his own in big-time matchups, but if his effort isn’t more consistent upon his return from injury, the Mavericks could definitely continue to suffer because of it.

Doncic has struggled immensely when guarding smaller guards as well as opponents who have an athletic advantage on him this season, and a little more effort may be all that it takes to minimize this issue to a point where it isn’t affecting the outcome of games for Dallas.

Perkins even went as far as to say that this issue is contagious for the rest of the team, which seems like a far reach considering how some of Dallas' role players are elite defenders, but his reasoning makes sense at the end of the day.

"It's contagious. So, if you're a J-Kidd—which I know J-Kidd is, I love J-Kidd and what he brings to the table," Perkins said. "Gets the best out of players—but how can you hold guys accountable in the room when Luka's actions have never changed, right?"