The NBA landscape just got a whole lot more interesting with the Dallas Mavericks pulling off the unthinkable, shipping Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a future first-rounder. In an instant, LA has another superstar to build their future around while giving LeBron James another shot at a championship.
Doncic’s presence is set to be felt immediately once he’s back from injury. He’s notoriously difficult to defend, can carry a team, and is practically a walking triple-double threat. However, the question of his fit alongside LeBron has sparked discussions.
LeBron has long been the primary offensive orchestrator for his teams, the guy who sets the tempo, makes the plays, and chips in with scoring. Now, with Doncic in the mix, LeBron might need to adjust a bit more to give Doncic more freedom to run the offense.
There are skeptics, but LeBron’s former head coach Tyronn Lue isn’t buying what they’re selling. Having coached LeBron in Cleveland, Lue knows the four-time NBA champion can adapt to any teammate, and pairing him with a talent like Doncic would make the adjustment less difficult.
“They’re not right. It’ll work,” Lue said. “When you have LeBron James, who has been the best player in the league for the last 15 years and when you have Luka who’s a top-three, top-five player in the league, they’ll figure out how to make it work.”
“And LeBron can play with anybody. The way he plays, he’s smart enough to understand how to play with certain guys, how to play off of guys and where to pick and choose his spots. I don’t think it’s going to be a problem at all. And JJ (Redick) will do a good job of staggering those guys so they each have their own unit; kind of like how we did with Kyrie and LeBron for four quarters. They’ll close games together. They’ll figure it out. It’s not a tough problem to have, I’ll tell you that. They’ll make it work.”
Ty Lue chuckled at the thought of people saying LeBron and Luka can’t play together: pic.twitter.com/9gd4Q0Ztzk
— Daniel Starkand (@DStarkand) February 5, 2025
