Rich Paul takes another shot at Lakers with Luka Doncic take

The Los Angeles Lakers have been fairly inconsistent this season, particularly on the defensive end of the floor.

Once again, fans and media have pointed the finger at Luka Doncic, whose defensive efforts — or lack thereof — have left plenty to be desired. Nevertheless, not everybody feels the same way. LeBron James' agent, Rich Paul, for instance, thinks it's not on Doncic to play defense in Los Angeles.

In the latest edition of his "Game Over" podcast with Max Kellerman, Paul claimed that even if Doncic were to improve his defensive game, the Lakers would still be in trouble because of how their roster is constructed.

Rich Paul says Lakers can't win regardless of Luka Doncic's defense

"You’re putting all your eggs in the basket on if Luka would play defense, I don’t give a damn if Luka turned into Tony Allen right now, it’s no different," Paul said. "If you can do surface level things, I’m not saying go out here and pigeon hold your future. But I’m also not saying to play this game of 'wait on the biggest name because that to me is fantasy basketball.' Reality is, every year is different. You can’t just throw a year away."

This isn't the first time that Paul has criticized the Lakers or questioned their championship aspirations this season. One can only wonder whether that's coming from him for his most famous client and friend, LeBron James, who has a long history of playing mind games to get his teams to make moves.

Whatever the case, Doncic does have to be better on defense. He's already shown that he can be at least decent when he puts his mind and body into it, and no team can afford to play 4-on-5 on defense for most of the game.