The Los Angeles Lakers are now firmly Luka Doncic’s team as he is the face of the franchise and the roster was rebuilt around him this offseason. Of course, the ultimate goal is always to compete for and win championships and the question now is whether Doncic can lead a team to that.
He has come close before, getting to the NBA Finals in 2024 but falling in five games to the Boston Celtics. One person who believes he will eventually succeed in that goal is former NBA player Channing Frye. However, he believes Doncic will have to change his ball-dominant style in order to do so.
“I think Luka will win a championship,” Frye said on a recent episode of the Road Trippin Show. “I do not think that he will win with that style of play and high usage rate… Did he miss his one chance? No. I just think something’s going to come around where Luka has got to come to grips with like, that’s not what is going to win. Luka’s greatness is not better than OKC or San Antonio or New York or Philly, no matter how great Luka is individually. So you got to build a team around him where he trusts and can get off the rock a little bit more.”
Doncic currently has the highest career usage rate in NBA history at 35.8% and he led the league last year with a career-high 38.1%. Doncic has four of the top 14 highest single-season usage rates ever. And where Frye’s argument holds validity is that none of the players in the top 45 single-season usage rates has ever won a championship in that season.
Obviously, Doncic is absolute magic with the ball in his hands and there are very few in the history of the league who can do what he does as a scorer and creator. But history shows that he will have to give up the ball just a bit more in order to achieve that ultimate goal.
Of course, that will also require those around him to be able step up and deliver so the pressure will be on Austin Reaves, Quentin Grimes and others to handle their business and, ultimately, push the Lakers back amongst the NBA’s elite teams.
Ziaire Williams praises Luka Doncic’s leadership
Doncic also must step up as a leader for this Lakers team and he is already taking that role seriously. In fact, one of his new Lakers teammates, Ziaire Williams, had high praise for his leadership and how much he cares about winning and his teammates.
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