Doncic was blunt about why he spent most of the first half barking at a player four years his junior.
“Everybody knows when somebody starts talking, you get a different me. So that was it,” he said after the game.
The exchange took over Wednesday night’s opener at Crypto.com Arena. It began in the second quarter, after Lendeborg was whistled for a shooting foul while trying to check the Slovenian, and ran all the way to the halftime horn, when Doncic banked in a three from near half court over the rookie to put Los Angeles up 66-52 on the way to a 127-105 win.
Doncic finished with 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in 30 minutes and sat the fourth quarter.
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‘He was talking crazy’
Asked what Lendeborg had said to set him off, Doncic kept the detail to himself but did not hide the irritation.
“He was talking crazy. I was trying not to talk back this season, trying not to get techs.”
That restraint was a point of pride.
“It was the first time I didn’t get a double-tech because I didn’t say anything.”
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Lendeborg, the No. 11 pick in the June 2026 draft, was the one who picked up the technical during the exchange. The rookie finished with 12 points, three rebounds and two assists.
Lendeborg: ‘All respect, gone’
The rookie was not in a mood to concede the night to Doncic. In his postgame press conference, Lendeborg accused the six-time All-Star of theatrics and said his opinion of him had collapsed in a single evening.
“I had a lot of respect for him, but being in there firsthand, watching all the whining and complaining, I lost all respect,” Lendeborg told reporters.
“And me getting frustrated, it’s not about the fouls being called, but it’s about him complaining the entire game.”
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“It kind of threw me off for a little while because, as I said, I had so much respect for him. But it’s gone, man, just gone.”
The half-court shot
The moment that will live longest from the game was the one Doncic cashed in from distance just before the break. He said he had been waiting for it.
“I knew that was going before I got it in my hands. I worked on those.”
JJ Redick’s Lakers are 1-0 to open the 2026-27 season.
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