Luka Doncic‘s elite playmaking skills can take time to get used to, writes Khobi Price of The Orange County Register. Doncic has brought a new dynamic to the Lakers‘ offense since being acquired from Dallas last month, but it took a while for his new teammates to adjust to the unexpected passes he sometimes delivers.
“There’s a non-cadence to the way Luka plays, if that makes sense,” coach J.J. Redick explained. “A lot of offensive players have pre-programmed reads. He just does [expletive] that you’re like, ‘What, why did you do that?’ There was a blitz against our bench in the second half. Could have made one read, could have made another read, made the read that I would have picked last and we ended up getting the layup on it.”
The Lakers have scored 122.8 points per 100 possessions over their last three games as the team gets more comfortable with Doncic in charge of the offense. The biggest beneficiary has been LeBron James, who has averaged a team-high 27.2 PPG in the 10 games he has played alongside Doncic.
“In order for us to be the team ultimately we need to be, the ball needs to be in Luka’s hands,” James said. “And then when Luka sits down, the ball can be in my hands or be (Austin Reaves’) hands when he gets back. But I’m very comfortable playing off the ball and finding my spots, running the floor, getting the outlet pass from Luka, being on the backside of the defense if he’s either being blitzed in pick-and-rolls or switched in pick-and-rolls. He attracts so many eyes and bodies. I’ve been very blessed to be able to be adaptable to whatever team I’ve been on throughout my career, to be able to change. And this is another instance and I’m looking forward to that.”
There’s more on the Lakers:
- James reached another career milestone Tuesday night, becoming the first player in league history to score 50,000 combined points in the regular season and playoffs, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. James accomplished it on his first shot of the night and went on to score 34 points in a victory over New Orleans. “It’s a hell of a lot of points, and I’m super blessed to be able to put that many points up in the best league in the world with the best players in the world over my career,” James said in a post-game interview with Spectrum SportsNet. “It’s pretty special.”
- Reaves is listed as probable for Thursday’s matchup with New York after missing the last two games with a right calf strain, McMenamin tweets. After leaving Friday’s game early due to the injury, Reaves underwent an MRI on Saturday that didn’t reveal any serious damage.
- In a discussion of the Doncic trade during an NPR interview, Lakers owner Jeanie Buss referenced Anthony Davis‘ distaste for playing center and the team’s recent playoff frustrations as reasons for the deal. “We gave up a lot to get Luka Doncic. We’re happy we have him,” Buss said. “We have lost the last three years in a row to the Denver Nuggets in the playoffs, and we really didn’t have anything that was going to look different going into the playoffs again. Anthony Davis was complaining about where he was being played and he wasn’t happy. So I think this was a positive for both teams. They got what they were looking for; we got what we were looking for. And I didn’t realize it was going to be international news like it was, but that’s the power of the Laker brand and its ability to draw big names who want to write their own chapter in Lakers history.”
Not really necessary for Jeanie Buss to throw Anthony Davis under the bus like that. You won the trade by a wide margin and were gifted a young, generational talent to guide the team after Lebron retires. Thank your lucky stars for Nico’s sheer incompetence, praise Davis for his service (he helped you win a championship, after all), and move on.
I wonder what you think of Nico and Mav’s ownership’s comments if you think what Buss said is throwing AD under the bus. He famously made that video with shams where he said he didn’t want to play the 5 plus he waived his trade kicker. AD was ready to leave too. They have thanked AD and have been pretty gracious about it.
“I wonder what you think of Nico and Mav’s ownership’s comments if you think what Buss said is throwing AD under the bus. ”
I assume you didn’t read my whole comment? I called out Nico’s sheer incompetence. It’s pretty clear what I think about Nico and Mav’s ownership comments. They were dumb and unnecessary. They continue to be dumb and unnecessary. I don’t see how this takes away from my opinion that Buss didn’t need to say any of this about AD. He won them a championship. There’s literally nothing to gain by trashing your former star by saying he was “complaining”.
Agreed Rct , Jeanie didn’t need to say anything
Saying that , I think she’s right tho, but i will be curious to see how the test project ( Ad at PF) under a different roof plays out
Well said