Official report shows Magic were robbed for Luka, LeBron

Historically, the Los Angeles Lakers have gotten the benefit of the doubt when it's come to the officials' calls. This isn't sour grapes speaking; it's statistically shown, year after year, that the Lakers go to the line most, or close to most, in the NBA, regardless of who is on their side.

This is especially true when they have starpower, as they do now, with all-time leading scorer LeBron James and this season's leading scorer, Luka Doncic. And it appears they got the benefit of the doubt in a game that came down to the wire Saturday, a win against the Magic in Orlando.

That loss was sealed with Luke Kennard's buzzer-beater for the Lakers.

Ah, but how did the game even get there?

The last two-minute report, released Sunday night, provided some insight.

The NBA’s L2M report found two incorrect non-calls and one incorrect call from the #Magic-Lakers game:

- Deandre Ayton committed a defense 3 second violation at 1:22
- Ayton committed another defense 3 second violation at 25.6
- Tristan da Silva didn’t foul Ayton at 5.5 https://t.co/lABTfNC4Zl pic.twitter.com/IZw3EmS6ya
— Jason Beede (@therealBeede) March 22, 2026

Oddly, it was Lakers center DeAndre Ayton, not Doncic or James, who was the direct beneficiary of the officials' blunders. The report ruled, in retrospect, that Ayton should have been called for not one, but two, defensive three-second violations, one with 1:22 left and one with 25.6 seconds left. Either of those would have resulted in a Magic technical free throw, and likely another point.

That mattered in a lot in a game that finished 105-104 Lakers, with every point at a premium.

But it didn't stop there.

The report, in its review, also found that Magic forward Tristan da Silva did not foul Ayton with 5.5 seconds left. That foul stopped the clock and put Ayton at the line. Ayton made the first, then missed the second on purpose, flinging it to the bottom of the rim. That tightened the score to 104-102 in favor of the Magic, as Wendell Carter Jr. secured that rebound and the Magic called timeout.

The Magic still should have secured the victory. But Paolo Banchero -- guarded by James -- took his eye off Jalen Suggs' tight sideline inbounds pass, James knocked it off Banchero, and it went out of bounds. (The report did not report that James fouled on that play.)

So no time ran off the clock, and the Lakers got it with 4.7 seconds left. Marcus Smart inbounded from the right sideline high near the basket to James, who had it knocked away by Banchero. No foul was called on the Magic forward, even though James wanted one. (And the report did not correct that either.)

Smart inbounded again, with 2.6 seconds left and -- with James and Doncic used as decoys -- Kennard was wide open at the top. He connected for the victory.

So yes, the Lakers made it happen at the end. The Magic did not.

But the end may not have played out that way if the officials hadn't played a part.