Los Angeles Lakers superstar Luka Doncic is truly one of the most unique players the NBA has ever seen. His combination of scoring ability, passing and vision along with elite basketball IQ make him basically unstoppable, despite not possessing elite athleticism.
The fact that Doncic can be so dominant with the ball in his hands is truly special and in the eyes of his Lakers teammate and best friend Austin Reaves, his style simply can’t be replicated.
“No, I think it’s God given, to be honest,” Reaves said on The Dan Patrick Show. “The pace that he plays with. The way that he sees the game and creates advantages for other people. You can study it, but I don’t know if you can really do it the way that he does it.”
In talking about Doncic’s pace, Patrick brought up players such as three-time MVP Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets and two-time NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard as others who dominate the game at their own speed.
“For sure,” Reaves agreed. “You’re not gonna watch them and be like they’re blowing by anybody. Which they do, but it’s always slow to fast or fast to slow, it’s never just completely fast. There’s guys that just run by people and then there’s guys that bait people to do what they want them to do.”
It is often talked about amongst the top players that it isn’t simply about speed, but rather the ability to change speeds and pace that makes such a difference. If you’re always going the same speed, it becomes easier for teams to adjust, but someone like Doncic who is constantly switching speeds and angles is so difficult to contain because the defense doesn’t know what to expect.
Even for those with elite athleticism, that ability to change directions and speeds is what takes them to the next level. But for someone like Doncic, who wasn’t blessed with that, his understanding of everything on the court is essential and he has mastered the art of getting to where he needs to on the court in order to set up himself or his teammates.
Trevor Ariza discusses what Luka Doncic-led Lakers must do to win championship
The goal for Doncic is to ultimately lead the Lakers back to an NBA Championship, though there are questions about whether his style of play is conducive to that. Former champion Trevor Ariza recently discussed what he believes the Doncic-led Lakers must focus on in order to reach that championship level.
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