Why JJ Redick Wanted Luka Dončić, Not LeBron James, to Shoot Key Free Throw in Lakers’ Win

Liam McKeone | 4 Hours Ago

JJ Redick had thoughts on LeBron James shooting a key technical free throw in the final seconds of the Lakers’ win over the Suns. / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Lakers beat the Suns on Sunday night in an exceptionally entertaining affair for a December regular-season contest. LeBron James and Dillon Brooks wrote another chapter in their surprising and storied rivalry, going back and forth with each other all evening as their teams jostled for position in a close game. James even earned a rare technical foul for getting into Brooks’s face and got physical with an official in the process. Los Angeles proved victorious but it was a narrow win thanks to what unfolded in the final seconds.

With 12 seconds remaining Brooks nailed a three-point shot to give Phoenix a one-point lead. Then his emotions got the better of him and he got right up in James’s face after making the go-ahead bucket. It resulted in Brooks earning his second technical foul and an ejection, which meant the Lakers got to shoot a technical free throw to tie the game and would take possession of the ball afterwards.

But, somewhat surprisingly, James was the Laker to line up and take the crucial free throw. James’s only major flaw as a player throughout his career has been a steady diet of misses from the charity stripe; he is a lifetime 73.7% free throw shooter and is hitting barely over 60% of his free throws this year. Yet there he was, taking the shot after Brooks got ejected—and he missed.

Of course, the Lakers superstar got the job done anyway. He was fouled on the ensuing possession and made two free throws to give Los Angeles a lead it would not relinquish. After the game, though, coach JJ Redick bluntly stated it was Luka Dončić who was supposed to take the key technical free throw, not James, and was surprised that The King wound up on the line.

“Guys were out on the court,” Redick said. “Luka and I talked. I thought Luka was going to shoot it. I walk back, LeBron was at the free throw line, he shot it. I don’t know what the dialogue on the court was. We did this at some point early in the season, ‘Here’s who’s going to shoot the technicals.’ And every team is different. Sometimes it’s the superstar, sometimes it’s the best free throw shooters, sometimes it’s the guy who maybe needs to see the ball go into the basket. It’s all situational.

“But, yeah, Luka should’ve shot that.”

It would appear Dončić was the designated technical free throw shooter and not James. Which makes sense given Dončić is making 81% of his free throws this season and made 13 of 14 attempts that very game.

As Redick noted there was a possibility James and Dončić talked it out beforehand. But The King himself acknowledged that he just went up there and shot it without really thinking about it.

“S---. I just walked to the free throw line. Why wouldn’t I? I mean, I’d be O.K. 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.”

There is a certain privilege afforded to superstar players when it comes to technical free throws and James has been the superstar on the court for his entire career. It could be that he’s simply used to being the guy to take the responsibility of the free throw in such a key moment. His “why wouldn’t I?” comment would suggest that’s the case and in this instance it overrode any previously-defined strategy about Dončić taking those free throws instead.

The Lakers won and that’s what matters. But it’ll be interesting to see who’s next up to take a technical free throw.

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