The Los Angeles Lakers have been a somewhat uneven team since the debut of Luka Doncic alongside superstar LeBron James and guard Austin Reaves. They have an eight-game win streak on their ledger, but also have separate losing streaks of four and three games, and have a 13-9 overall record in the 22 games since his debut.
Statistically, they are extremely middle of the road. They rank 19th in offense, 13th in defense and have the 14th-overall net rating. But of course, this excludes the context that Doncic, Reaves and James have all missed time during that stretch.
Even still, the James-Doncic-Reaves trio has a minus-6.3 net rating in 12 games together. But perhaps Wednesday night against the Indiana Pacers — a buzzer-beating win from LeBron — could signal a turnaround for the trio. Luka spoke about his perspective on LeBron’s huge moment, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“I mean, first of all when I got the rebound, he was down the court. He was asking for the ball but I wasn’t confident enough to make that pass with nine seconds to go. So I then passed to AR, he passed to LeBron and it just shows how much confidence he was in me and I really appreciate that to give me that final ball. I think we got a great look, didn’t make it but LeBron was there luckily.”
The Lakers got the win thanks to the clutch play from James, but it was clear that the trio still was not meshing as cohesively as they would like. And Doncic believes that lies with him to figure out:
“I think for me, it’s still a lot of work to do. I’m just trying to understand what those guys are like, what those two guys want. AR and LeBron have been playing, what, 3-4 years together? So they know each other a little bit more. That’s gonna take a little bit of time but I gotta watch film and adapt myself to that situation.”
This topic brought Doncic to praising Reaves specifically for rolling with the punches so well over the last few weeks as his role has been constantly changing:
“It’s amazing for him. You never see him complain about what role he’s playing, whether he’s the No. 1 option, No. 2 or No. 3. He never complains just the way he sticks with it, it’s amazing to see. That’s a guy you want on your team.”
It’s clear that Doncic enjoys playing alongside James and Reaves. However, that now needs to turn into a statistically better trio, given that it’s the Lakers’ three best players. And with time, the collective IQ of those three players are sure to figure out the path to success.
LeBron James focusing on impacting games without scoring
Wednesday provided LeBron James with the opportunity to show how effective he can be even if his shot isn’t falling. James did not make his first field goal of the game until the fourth quarter, but finished with 13 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists and was one of two Lakers starters to have a positive plus-minus for the game.
That’s because LeBron’s contribution to making the trio of him, Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic work is figuring out ways he can be impactful without his scoring.
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