The Los Angeles Lakers are in for another tough matchup on Wednesday, March 26. The Purple and Gold prepare to face off against the Indiana Pacers, who are on a five-game winning streak behind great play from Tyrese Haliburton. Meanwhile, the Lakers are on a three-game skid and are far away from the team they were at the beginning of the month when they sat in the 2nd seed. Something is not clicking, and Kendrick Perkins thinks he knows what it is.
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Lakers head coach JJ Redick mentioned that the team “looked tired” after their recent collapse against the Magic in Orlando. Perk called out Redick’s “tired” comment on the pre-game coverage on ESPN, claiming that he just “lied to the American people.”
“No championship contender at this point is tired, they are reaching their peak,” Perkins stated with gusto. “Tell the people what’s real,” he added. What was Perk hinting at? That the core of their issues is Luka Doncic.
“Your best player now, Luka Doncic, is out of shape,” claimed Perkins. He continued his beratement of The Don by pointing out his ineffectiveness on the defensive side of the ball, specifically ever since he made his Lakers debut. “Luka Doncic is so horrible defensively,” he said. “Since he’s debuted with the Los Angeles Lakers, he’s #1 in the league in blow bys.”
“No championship contender at this point is tired, they are reaching their peak.”@KendrickPerkins responds to Lakers head coach JJ Redick saying his team “looks tired.” pic.twitter.com/bfaQNAzn9S
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) March 26, 2025
It should be noted that the Lakers had a whopping 8 games played between March 13th and March 24th. Combine such a grueling slate of games with the fact that yes, Doncic is coming off the worst injury of his career and there might be some more time needed for #77 to ramp up.
Fortunately for Doncic, Perk doesn’t put the full blame for his lack of defense on him. The 2008 NBA Champion declared that American culture has corrupted The Don because Americans only like scoring and dislike defensive basketball. “So Luka said ever since coming overseas, ‘All I got to do is go put up buckets. All I got to do is put up big numbers and stats offensively.'”
Is Kendrick Perkins right?
Perk does have a point regarding defense, but it’s not just on Luka. The entire Lakers squad has been slacking on that side of the ball.
The Magic loss in particular was hard since they were neck and neck with Orlando until the 3rd quarter, when they gave up 34 points. It didn’t help that Dwight Howard was in attendance rooting against the team he helped capture a chip in 2020.
The Bulls loss two games ago was scarier. Seven players on the red & black put up double digits, including Coby White, who dropped 36 and Matas Buzelis who dropped 31.
For the longest time, perimeter players on the purple and gold had the luxury of slacking on defense due to Anthony Davis’ presence in the paint, ready to erase their mistakes. They simply do not have that luxury any longer. If JJ Redick’s squad hopes to make a meaningful playoff run this postseason, they’ll have to put pressure on the other side of the court.
