For the entirety of his NBA career, Luka Doncic has basically had the ball in his hands as the primary creator. Now as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, on the same team as one of the greatest creators in history LeBron James, there will need to be some adjustments.
A lot has been said about how the Lakers will be able to integrate Doncic into what they do, but in the eyes of LeBron himself, it’s the rest of the team that needs to adjust.
According to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, James believes that Doncic needs to have the ball in his hands and the Lakers need to adjust their game to fit around him, not the other way around:
“Just want him to be himself — when he gets back to himself,” James told ESPN. “Obviously, he’s been out since Christmas and I think he told me or said it to us, that’s the most he’s ever been out since he started playing basketball — because of an injury. Obviously, it’s not going to happen overnight, but I believe that in order for us to ultimately be the team that we want to be with him here, he has to have the ball, he has to be able to put us all in position, he has to be him. The seven years that we’ve seen in the NBA with Luka, we want that Luka.
“So we all have to transform our game for the betterment of him, obviously. But it’s not going to happen overnight. We know that. But my message has been, ‘Just be you. You don’t have to confine [your game] to us. We need to figure it out with you.’ Whatever he needs, I’m here. So, whatever he needs.”
And LeBron made it clear that goes for himself as well as he noted that he has long been working on his catch-and-shoot jumpers in order to better fit next to a playmaker of Doncic’s caliber:
“I’ve worked on my outside shot and my catch-and-shoot game for quite a while now to be able to sync up with someone like Luka,” James told ESPN.
To his credit, James has greatly improved as a shooter over the last couple of seasons, knocking down 39.5% from 3-point range this year and a career-high 41% last season. That will make it that much harder for teams to lock in on Doncic and make the Lakers’ offense far more dangerous.
The ultimate goal for the Lakers as always is to win a championship and LeBron knows that Doncic has to be at his best in order to accomplish that. And he sounds very willing to make the sacrifices needed to make that happen.
Lakers’ LeBron James believes he and Luka Doncic fit together perfectly
Prior to Luka Doncic suiting up for the Lakers, some had wondered whether he and LeBron James would be able to play together. No one within the Lakers organization had any of those questions, however, including LeBron himself who feels that he and Doncic’s game fit perfectly together.
“I’m a natural-born wide receiver and he’s a natural-born quarterback, so it fits perfectly,” he said. “I’ve been running the floor and running lanes pretty much my whole life and he’s been throwing great passes pretty much his whole life. So it’s not hard to get a rhythm when it comes to that. It’s just all about eye contact and him being the great quarterback like he is and me being the recipient of it.”
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