Maybe Nico Harrison was right about Luka Dončić after all?
As the Dončić-led Los Angeles Lakers suffer through a March swoon, FS1 host Chris Broussard had an all-too-familiar criticism for the Slovenian wunderkind and his tendency to put a little too much of the offense on his shoulders.
“I am a huge fan of his, I nicknamed him ‘Luka Legend,’ Larry Bird 2.0, but Luka Dončić is a ball-hog,” Broussard said Tuesday on First Things First. “A great ball-hog. A Hall of Fame ball-hog. An all-time elite ball-hog.”
.@Chris_Broussard is delivering some bad news to Lakers fans 👀
“Luka Doncic is a ball hog. A great ball hog. A Hall of Fame ball hog (future). An all-time elite ball hog. HE’S A BALL HOG.” 😅🤣 pic.twitter.com/Yr0VpJNZPW
— First Things First (@FTFonFS1) March 25, 2025
Broussard said part of what pushed him to criticize Dončić’s recent stretch of play is that the ball-hoggery is coming not at the expense of Dallas teammates Jalen Brunson or Kyrie Irving, but the legendary LeBron James.
And beyond reducing James to a floor-spacer, Broussard believes Dončić is also demoralizing his new Lakers teammates.
“When you are just watching one guy operate and you’re standing there watching him do all this, even if he’s making some of them, they’re bad shots, and that takes away from your morale,” Broussard said. “Especially when that guy can’t defend. When he’s getting blown by and beaten on defense and then coming down and shooting all these shots, that seeps away at your morale and affects you on the other end of the floor.”
This is shockingly similar to the epic rant unleashed by ESPN NBA insider Brian Windhorst during the 2024 NBA Finals after a lowlight reel on defense by Dončić. It’s also quite similar to the argument that disgraced Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison made when he traded Dončić.
However, Broussard isn’t ruling out Dončić getting his head screwed on straight sooner rather than later.
“I think Luka will adjust naturally. I think he got used to doing this with LeBron out,” Broussard said of Dončić’s in-season adjustments in L.A. “But if he doesn’t…LeBron is the only one who can really say ‘look, we’ve gotta do it differently.'”
While Dallas certainly wrecked its franchise by trading Dončić in his prime for an aging, injury-prone star in Anthony Davis and just one first-round pick, the concerns about Dončić are not gone. For Broussard, the grace period of Dončić getting comfortable with the Lakers is over.
The message from Broussard to “Luka Legend”: stop hogging the ball.
