Did LeBron James' Lakers 'Quit' Against Dallas Mavericks?

The Dallas Mavericks took down the Los Angeles Lakers on national television 109-104 on Tuesday night. The Mavs scored a staggering 71 points in the first half, drawing major attention to the Lakers' effort level on defense.

Luka Doncic takes in the Lakers home crowd after a big road win.

Luka Doncic skies for a major put-back dunk over Dwight Howard.

Luka Doncic shoots a three-pointer over LeBron James.

A variety of plays that stood out, but perhaps the most notable was LeBron James turning the ball over and choosing to complain to the nearest referee as Dwight Powell ran the floor for an easy dunk.

As LeBron James is busy talking to the referee, Maxi Kleber gets behind the defense to catch the no-look lob from Luka Doncic.

Complaining to refs instead of getting back on defense was something Jason Kidd called out Doncic for doing back in early December. pic.twitter.com/RCBUPXYAp8
— Grant Afseth (@GrantAfseth) March 2, 2022

The Lakers were often standing around on defense, failing to box out on shots. Luka Doncic took full advantage of one lapse in effort to with thunderous put-back dunk.

This was one hell of a putback from Luka Doncic. Also, wild how the Lakers' defense just stares at an open shooter in the corner then makes no effort on the boards... pic.twitter.com/0yLVc0JSxM
— Grant Afseth (@GrantAfseth) March 2, 2022

On the TNT broadcast, NBA legends Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade called out the Lakers for their apparent lack of effort against the Mavericks.

O'Neal made it clear the Lakers need to show more urgency and pride to get out of the play-in spot. The four-time NBA champion -- three with the Lakers -- feels his former team can compete with any of the top teams in the Western Conference if they play hard.

"You gotta at least put more effort into it. I don’t mind losing, but when you don’t have a lot of effort, it shows that – and I hate to use this word – it looks like they’re quitting," O’Neal said. "I hate to use the word. … I don’t see a lot of effort out of this team.

"They still can do something. I’m not talking about winning a championship, but if I was them, the first goal would be, ‘Let’s get out of this (9th) spot.’ And let’s just start coming together, let’s start playing together. We know if we play together, we show effort, and play hard, we can compete with whoever No. 1 or whoever No. 2 is."

Wade agreed with O'Neal's assessment.

Luka Doncic sizes up Carmelo Anthony.

LeBron James backs down Luka Doncic in the post.

Luka Doncic takes on Russell Westbrook one-on-one.

"There’s no sense of urgency with this team," Wade said. "Like Shaq said, it’s not about winning a championship at this point. This is about pride. There’s no pride out there with this team. They pull apart from each other."

There's been no shortage of comments from Russell Westbrook talking about how it's not too late for the Lakers to turn things around. The Lakers, however, have an interest in moving on from Westbrook after the season, either by trade or the stretch provision.

The talk about Frank Vogel potentially getting fired has only intensified given the Lakers are 27-34. Even general manager Rob Pelinka has been caught in the middle of job security speculation as the losses continue to pile up.