Before the season began, many, including NBA general managers, viewed the Lakers as a play-in team.
That might still happen, as injuries can derail anything, but 15 games into the NBA season, this seems
like a ridiculous take.
Even with LeBron James out for the first 14 contests, the Lakers were able to stack wins with Luka Dončić as the guy in charge. He is leading the NBA in scoring, averaging 34.6 points per game.
LeBron made his season debut against the Jazz and we immediately saw LeBron adapt to his teammates and dish out 12 assists to help the Lakers to a big win.
After the win, Austin Reaves discussed how having LeBron and Luka makes everything better for everyone.
“We have two of the best passers to ever touch a basketball and with them making the right read, I’d say 90% of the time, you’re going to play advantage basketball and, at that point, the game should be pretty easy,” Reaves said. “I thought we did a good job of that tonight when they went to their shocks and any type of pick and roll with Luka or even Bron just getting the ball in the right spot and people cutting at the right time, finding the right area. We’re going to continue to grow in those aspects, but tonight it looked pretty good.”
A great example of what Reaves is talking about is how Luka and LeBron got Jake LaRavia an easy look for a three.
First, Luka threw a hit-ahead pass to LeBron. Then James drove to the rim and had four Jazz players in the paint collapsing on him. James kicked it out to an open LaRavia and just like that, the Lakers got a catch-and-shoot three from the corner in about five seconds.
Reaves wasn’t the only one who noticed LeBron’s impact even after just one game. This was the first time Deandre Ayton played in an NBA game alongside LeBron and he enjoyed it. After the win, he was raving about how LeBron’s mere presence makes him a better defender.
Luka’s impact has been clear all season long. He’s creating a ton of problems for defenses as they blitz him trying to get the ball out of his hands. Even when they do, Luka has a knack for pulling off incredible passes and finding open players. He’s averaging nine assists per game, a career high for the Slovenian.
It turns out that employing two All-NBA-caliber players is a good thing. Who could have seen this coming?
It won’t be long before those same talking heads will be gaslighting basketball fans, saying how it was obvious that a Lakers team with LeBron, Reaves, and Luka was going to be great.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
