Former NBA Champion Channing Frye doubled down on his belief that Luka Doncic can never win a title with his playing style. Previous seasons have seen Frye sharing this take after Doncic joined the Los Angeles Lakers and saw expectations growing for his tenure there. Recent losses have exposed some flaws for the Lakers’ season after a dominant first few victories.
Frye revealed the following when asked by a fan about his Luka criticism:
“I love Luka. I just don’t think the way he plays basketball is going to win a championship. That’s it. That’s it. I think Luka is a lot like James Harden. I think both of those guys games are amazing, but their usage rate is not equating to championships. Who plays like that? Who’s played like that and shown you that they can win a championship?
It’s not sustainable. The usage rate is too much. What’s going to happen? Like, Luka’s great. He’s not winning you a championship like that. ‘Cause guess what? The other best team has five guys that is going to average 15 to 20 points. Luka has to feed his whole team other than Austin Reaves. That’s a lot. That’s a lot of pressure on one person. Definitely not a hater. He’s great. All-time great.”
Frye confirmed that he does like Doncic and views him as an all-time great. However, he strongly dislikes the Harden type playing style that doomed the Houston Rockets during playoff contention. Frye expects Luka to have the same fate of always having regular season success and falling just short come playoff time.
Luka Doncic Can’t Easily Prove Him Wrong
The topic of Frye’s claim goes to the postseason and needing to win the NBA Championship to prove him wrong. Doncic did make the NBA Finals with the Dallas Mavericks in 2024, but they got gentleman swept by the Boston Celtics.
The Lakers don’t have an easy path to title contention since they are fully ranked below the San Antonio Spurs. Injuries to the Oklahoma City Thunder have made them more human, but the Lakers are still rated below them.
Doncic is relying on Reaves being a second All-Star, and new center Walker Kessler anchoring the defense. Recent games have seen the defense failing them and Kessler getting more criticism.
Understanding Channing Frye’s Bigger Luka Point
History makes it hard for any player playing Doncic’s style to win it all. Harden’s past was referenced by Frye as having too much usage. Today’s stars often have more help when looking at the cores around the other top stars like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Victor Wembanyama.
Luka also struggles as a poor defender to add a flaw that isn’t as strong for SGA, Wembanyama, Anthony Edwards, and many other superstars. Frye is making a fair point that has upset fans by declaring a title will “never” happen.
However, he is using logic and history on his side to explain why Doncic will have a tough task. The Lakers will likely need to make more changes to get the roster near true title contention in the Luka era. Otherwise, they are risking failure going against objectively better playoff teams every year.
NBA Legend Says Luka Doncic Will Never Win Title For Lakers