Skip Bayless believes JJ Redick's 'championship shape' comment after Lakers' playoff exit was a shot at Luka Doncic
Following the Los Angeles Lakers’ first-round exit, JJ Redick made headlines for one of his comments from the postgame press conference. Apart from giving a candid assessment of the team’s performance against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Redick revealed his offseason plans for the team.
Redick said that he would make sure that certain players on the roster are in “championship shape”. Skip Bayless believes that the first-year head coach targeted Luka Doncic through these comments.
"I'll start with the offseason and the work that's required in an offseason to be in championship shape… There are individuals that were in phenomenal shape. There's certainly other ones that could have been in better shape. That's where my mind goes immediately is we have to get in championship shape,” Redick said after suffering a 96-103 Game 5 loss, via ESPN.
Reacting to the comment on Thursday, Skip Bayless was confident that Redick was indirectly criticizing Luka Doncic’s fitness levels.
“Today, JJRedick obviously took a shot at Luka, saying the Lakers have certain players who "need to get in championship shape." Somewhere Nico is shrugging and thinking, "Exactly.”,” Bayless tweeted.
Doncic's struggles with conditioning have been well-documented, often unable to keep his weight in check. Combined with his defensive shortcomings, these concerns reportedly played a key role in Dallas GM Nico Harrison’s decision to pull off the blockbuster trade.
Despite being “not in shape”, the Slovenian superstar concluded the first-round series with 30.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game while tackling a stomach bug in Game 3.
Former NBA players bash Luka Doncic for defensive incapabilities
The Minnesota Timberwolves exposed Luka Doncic’s defensive incapabilities on numerous occasions across the first-round series. It was evident that Doncic could not hold his ground during iso plays, often resulting in the Wolves targeting him as the weak link.
The likes of Jeff Teague and Kendrick Perkins are just a few examples of those who expressed their frustrations towards the Lakers' guard’s defense.
“I hate watching Luka play now man. His defense is so bad, everybody is Iso-ing you? I wasn’t even a defender, but not everybody Iso-ing me. Luka bro, I ain’t going to lie, that s**t is bad to watch bro,” Teague said on a podcast.
“Luka Doncic is the worst defensive star that we've seen in the modern era of basketball,” Perkins made a bold statement on ESPN’s First Take.
The critics are not wrong for bashing Luka. His defensive lapses often eclipsed his brilliance on the offense, adding more pressure on his teammates to compensate for his lack of effort or awareness on that side of the court.
