Lakers' LeBron James dishes on mid-season adjustments from Anthony Davis to Luka Doncic
04/01/2025 04:45 PM
Since coming to Los Angeles, Lakers guard Luka Doncic has received the utmost praise from LeBron James for his contributions. The Lakers are surging with a 46-29 record and are on the verge of locking up a top-five seed in the playoffs.
Meanwhile, the Dallas Mavericks are hanging on by a thread with a 37-39 record since the Lakers acquired Doncic in exchange for Anthony Davis in the blockbuster trade.
In the latest episode of the podcast Mind the Game, James discusses the adjustments both the Lakers and the Mavericks have made since the trade. He explains that when Davis was with the Lakers, the goal was to get him the ball as many times as possible and translate that to production on defense.
“You have to kind of rearrange how we’re playing,” James said. “So now Dallas goes from being heavy pick and roll to four out. One Big come set it for Luka, you get a roller, you get spreads. You know, when Luka sits down, Kyrie gets the ball, now he does his thing. Now you know their team kind of changes, and our team dynamic changes too from we need AD to touch the ball every time down. We have to have AD engaged in order for us to be able to win because when AD is engaged offensively, it’s going to work, and then defensively, it makes us even more incredible.”
The rule applies to Doncic but takes on a unique dimension.
LeBron James compares Luka Doncic to Barry Bonds
Elsewhere in the conversation with Nash, James went on to compare Doncic to former MLB slugger Barry Bonds. He argues that a concerted effort needs to be made to get the ball to Doncic so he can utilize his obvious strength.
“So now we have to change our whole thing now,” James said. “Completely different because Luka needs the ball, he has to have the ball. It makes no sense of bringing in Barry Bonds if we’re not going to have him bat cleanup.”
The idea being that Doncic is a superstar player capable of changing the team dynamic. When he gets the ball, he rises to the occasion. The same was true for Bonds at the plate.
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