No one thinks that the Los Angeles Lakers got the short end of the stick in their trade that sent Anthony Davis to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Luka Doncic. In fact, the opposite has been the general consensus. But even among the NBA’s elite talent, there are red flags and deficiencies. This is true for Doncic as much as anyone.
Former Mavericks senior basketball analyst Jeremias Engelmann (March 2019-July 2022) recently described why for two years he attempted (and failed) to get Dallas to trade the young superstar, via the 5×5 | Royce Webb Substack. His insights should serve as an honest assessment of what the Lakers should expect from the 25-year-old on and off the court.
Luka Doncic’s Red Flags Can’t Be Ignored By Los Angeles Lakers

In the piece, Englemann describes that from a statistical analyst perspective, he suspected early on that Doncic did not fit the models that he and those of his ilk used to identify high-impact players.
“One such method is designed to discover high-impact players early,” Engelmann writes. “It has a high accuracy rate and has successfully identified players like Jayson Tatum and Franz Wagner. But Dončić was nowhere to be found on this list.“
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As a person who was then able to watch Doncic on a night-in, night-out basis, Engelmann says the ‘eye test’ corroborated this statistical analysis. Englemann breaks down why Doncic has achieved superstar status but will fall short of becoming truly great.
“That’s because Luka shared multiple attributes with players who are seen as absolute superstars by fans and media, but who end up with minimal playoff success:
- the laissez-faire approach to everything on defense — moving his feet to close off driving lanes and boxing out were always afterthoughts with him;
- falling asleep in critical defensive situations;
- a lack of off-ball movement on offense;
- the tendency to take exciting but ill-advised shots, especially in critical end-game situations.
My analysis revealed that, while Dončić was a counting-stats monster, several players would likely outperform him — in both the present and the future — in impact metrics that ignored individual stats.”
Engelmann goes on to describe not only those problems on the court but also that pesky off-the-court lack of self-control, what Engelmann describes as ‘a lack of professionalism’
“As noted, there was some indication that Dončić, on the court, didn’t have the internal fire to win every game, every possession. Off the court, Dončić likewise caused reason for doubt: How much was he willing to commit to winning? He rarely appeared to be in shape, and his dietary choices became a constant topic of discussion around the team.”