The Big Lead

Former NFL star rips apart Luka Doncic after Lakers' loss vs. Jazz: "He's a lazy defender"

By Aikansh Chaudhary

Feb 10, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) looks on from the court against the Utah Jazz at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Feb 10, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) looks on from the court against the Utah Jazz at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
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The Luka Doncic era kicked off with a win over the Utah Jazz, albeit with the 5x NBA All-Star struggling to score. It's understandable considering he played for the first time since the NBA Christmas Day.

Following the underwhelming debut, the Los Angeles Lakers once again faced the Jazz as part of their final game ahead of the 2025 NBA All-Star break.

Unfortunately, for the Purple and Gold, they were handed a blowout defeat by the 14th seed in the Western Conference.

RELATED: Luka Dončić's Lakers debut delivers happy ratings news for ESPN

While some fans didn't think much of the defeat, a plethora were furious since it was an easily winnable game for the 17-time NBA champions.

Moreover, Doncic had another lackluster game in the iconic Purple and Gold jersey, showing major rustiness in his performance. After the poor outing, former NFL star Emmanuel Acho went off on Doncic, even labeling him a 'lazy defender.'

"They have their second-worst defensive performance in the second game that Luka showed up," Acho said. "That's an issue because everybody said, 'Hey watch out Luka is a defensive liability.' Is it a coincidence? Is it causation or is it a correlation that the second Luka shows up the Lakers have their second-worse defensive performance of the season. ... Luka, he's a lazy defender."

Acho also called out Doncic's foul problem against the Jazz. For context, Doncic had five personal fouls in just 23 minutes of playing time.

One positive takeaway from the defeat was Doncic shot 46.2% from the field, much better than his season debut with the Lakers.

While Acho's points are valid, he is seemingly forgetting the fact that Doncic is still conditioning himself, once the Slovenian star is back to his 100% both mentally and physically, it would be interesting to see his performances.

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