t was supposed to be a celebration. On the night LeBron James turned 41, the Crypto.com Arena was primed for a coronation.
Instead, the Detroit Pistons played spoiler, blowing out the Los Angeles Lakers 128-106 and handing the Purple and Gold their fourth loss in five games.
But the post-game vitriol wasn’t directed at the birthday boy, who posted a quiet 17 points. The spotlight—and the scrutiny—burned hottest on Luka Dončić.
Despite filling the box score with 30 points and 11 assists, Dončić’s performance became a lightning rod for criticism. The Slovenian superstar committed eight turnovers, many of which fueled Detroit’s transition
The comparison gaining the most traction isn’t to Magic Johnson or Larry Bird, but to a polarizing version of Russell Westbrook.
Following the buzzer, NBA Reddit and Twitter exploded with threads dissecting Dončić’s recent regression. The primary complaint? That his heliocentric style
yields massive stat lines but bleeds points on the other end—reminiscent of Westbrook’s 2020-21 tenure with the Washington Wizards.
Turning into Wizards Russ before our eyes,” one highly upvoted comment on the Lakers subreddit read. “His turnovers are seriously back-breaking as well. Just today,
the Pistons scored 14 points on the possessions immediately following a Luka turnover. For a guy who already puts zero effort into defense, that’s a lot of free points given up.”
The data backs the frustration. Detroit, a young and hungry team led by Cade Cunningham (27 points), feasted on live-ball turnovers.