Thereâs a common idiom that most NBA players follow when it comes to the league’s best players: Donât poke the bear.
But when it came to Luka Doncic on Wednesday night during the Lakersâ season-opening blowout win over the Warriors at Crypto.com Arena, Yaxel Lendeborg not only poked the bear, but ignited a barrage of chirping late in the second quarter.
And the Slovenian superstar made it clear that whatever the Warriors rookie said was out of bounds.
âHe was talking crazy,â Doncic said.
The trash talk started when the Lakers 6-foot-8 guard picked up a shooting foul against Lendeborg late in the second, with Doncic laughing as the No. 11 pick in Juneâs NBA draft became frustrated with the call.
Even after Lendeborg subbed out, Doncic kept talking to the 6-foot-9 forward out of Michigan while he was on the bench after knocking down a fadeaway against Will Richard, and once again while Sandro Mamukelashvili was shooting free throws.
Lendeborg picked up a technical foul with 22 seconds left in the first half after he and Doncic, presumably, kept chirping at each other.
The punctuation mark to the jawing came right before halftime, when Doncic nailed a buzzer-beating halfcourt shot to give the Lakers a 66-52 lead going into the gameâs break.
âNobody understands what he says,â Austin Reaves quipped of Doncic. âHeâs not speaking English. I didnât understand anything and barely knew anything was going on. So, I know we need an article to come out and Iâm going to start paying people to talk s— to him so gets [into] another gear when people start trying to talk to him.â
The most impressive part of the back-and-forth was Doncic not picking up a technical foul during the whole ordeal after being assessed 16 technical fouls last season.
âI wasn’t trying to talk back this season,â Doncic said. âI’m trying to not get techs. So it was the first time that [it] was not a double tech, because I didn’t say nothing. So I’m working on it. But as you see, it worked great.â
New Lakers forward Ziaire Williams, who had his own altercation with Doncic in late March while the 6-foot-10 forward was still with the Nets, which led to double technical fouls and Doncic serving a one-game suspension in the Lakers’ next game because of an accumulation of techs, appreciated Lendeborg’s spirit.
“Itâs a lot better when youâre on his side than the other side, for sure,” Williams said. “I mean, the rookie, he was talking a lot of smack, too. Shout out to him for not backing down. Luka definitely had the better day. At least he didnât back away from the challenge.”
