One of the most exciting plays in basketball is an alley-oop. When executed correctly, it blends excellent timing with athleticism to create a highlight play that almost always gets fans on their feet.
When executed correctly.
The Lakers have been an overly ambitious team this season when it comes to throwing lobs to teammates, so much so that it’s time for an intervention. Not every fastbreak needs to end in an alley-oop, guys!
Sunday was not just the latest example of the purple and gold fumbling a fastbreak with a questionable lob, but also the point that crossed the line. During the third quarter of their win over the Jazz, Luka Dončić came away with a long rebound and the Lakers were on a 3-on-1 fastbreak alongside Jake LaRavia and Austin Reaves.
Somehow, with those three sneaky athletic gentlemen leading the way, the fastbreak ended in a lob to LaRavia that was swatted out of bounds.
Can LaRavia dunk the ball? Yes. Has it caught lobs on fastbreaks this season? Yes. Should you be throwing contested alley-oops to him in a one-point game in the third quarter? Absolutely not.
Now, this play actually did end as a net positive for the Lakers because Kyle Filipowski, after knocking the ball away, made sure to let Luka know about it…which led to Luka taking over for a stretch in the fourth to help earn the win.
But one of the most insane parts about that lob was that it came one game after the team avoided catastrophe with the worst alley-oop attempt potentially in league history.
In their home game against Utah on Tuesday, Luka jumped the passing lane for a great steal that sparked a 2-on-1 fastbreak with Austin. Again, somehow, with Austin and Luka the two players involved, a lob was thrown that not only was a terrible decision, but Luka’s landing nearly ended in a disastrous injury.
Guys, what are we doing here? What happened to a good ole fashioned bounce pass leading to a layup? Why did it become necessary for fastbreaks to end in lobs now?
With Reaves, this is a common occurrence. Perhaps years of playing with Anthony Davis, who could turn bad lobs into dunks, led to him throwing more and more audacious passes. We saw it last year when he threw an insane alley-oop to LeBron late in the season that somehow worked.
LeBron joked after the game that the lob “set him back three days.”
The problem is, generally speaking, the worse the lob throw is, the better the alley-oop. A good alley-oop pass typically leads to a relatively boring and easy dunk. But a bad lob? That forces some improvisation and can lead to the best highlights.
In the pantheon of all-time worst Lakers lob throwers, Reaves is quickly closing in on that GOAT, Danny Green. But as a team? These Lakers are not only throwing some bad lobs, but are doing it far too often and it’s time for someone to intervene.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on BlueSky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
