Despite having a 20-point advantage at one point, the Lakers were down by one thanks to Dillon Brooks hitting a 3-pointer with just 12.2 seconds left in their game against the Suns.
With Brooks being his
typical villain self , he made another bone-headed play by unnecessarily bumping LeBron James to not only put the Lakers on the line for the tie, but also causing himself to get ejected from the game.
However, the Lakers followed up Brooks’ miscue with one of their own. Brooks was assessed a technical foul, and LeBron James stepped up to shoot the free throw. But that’s not who the Lakers wanted to take that shot.
After the game, head coach JJ Redick acknowledged that it was Luka Dončić who was supposed to take that free throw attempt.
“Guys were out on the court,” Redick said. “Luka and I talked. I thought Luka was going to shoot it. I walked back. LeBron was at the free throw line and he shot it. I don’t know what the dialogue on the court was. We did this at some point last year.
“Early in the season, we designated ‘Here’s who going to shoot the technicals.’ Every team is different. Sometimes its the superstar, sometimes it’s the best free throw shooter, sometimes it’s the guy who maybe needs to see the ball go in the basket. It’s all situational. But Luka should have shot that.”
Unfortunately for LeBron, he missed the shot. Fortunately for the Lakers, though, Bron redeemed himself seconds later, getting fouled on a 3-point attempt and knocking down two of his free throws in that scenario to secure the win.
Postgame, LeBron gave his recollection of the late-game events.
“Sh–t,” Bron said. “I just walked to the free throw line. Why wouldn’t I? I mean, I’d be ok with Luka taking it, too. We’ve both been in pressure situations. But I just took it. Unfortunately, I missed it. But I made up for it.”
Hopefully, in the future, there will be no confusion about who is supposed to be taking these shots.
LeBron is more than capable of doing so, but if the plan is for Luka to do it, then the team needs to be on the same page.
The good thing is that this confusion didn’t result in a disastrous scenario where the Lakers blew the game. As has been the case for the 2024-25 Lakers, even when they don’t do everything right, they’ve found ways to continue stacking wins.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
