Because the mud settles on the Los Angeles Lakers’ season, many are speculating about the way forward for the franchise and looking out again on the choice to commerce for Luka Doncic.
Regardless of the frustration of a five-game sequence loss, it is necessary to recollect that the Doncic trade wasn’t actually about this season; it was achieved for the Lakers’ future above all else.
The Lakers misplaced to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday in a recreation the place Doncic scored 28 factors in 40 minutes. Doncic was Los Angeles’s greatest participant all through the whole sequence, at the least from an offensive perspective.
Doncic averaged 30.2 points, seven rebounds and 5.8 assists per recreation in opposition to Minnesota within the sequence.
And although some will level to his struggles defensively and the truth that he appeared off form, the identical factor Dallas Mavericks common supervisor Nico Harrison referenced as their motive for trading the five-time All-NBA superstar, nothing about Doncic’s play needs to be trigger for any revisionist commentary about bringing him to Los Angeles.
The thought {that a} workforce cannot advance far within the postseason with Doncic as a consequence of his defensive deficiencies was debunked final 12 months when he led the Mavericks to the NBA Finals. It is attainable that will not change at this level in Doncic’s profession.
Whereas it is attainable he might be even higher if he had a stronger physique and targeted on each ends of the courtroom, it is simply unlikely to occur. However even when they do not, the Lakers can nonetheless win with Doncic.
Los Angeles must construct a workforce correctly round Doncic, a lot the best way Dallas did earlier than transport him out of city. The Lakers must discover a method to discover extra bigs, ideally a pure heart and a capability to contend on the glass.
The Timberwolves received the rebounding battle 54-37 in Recreation 5 and solely misplaced the rebounding battle as soon as all through the sequence, sarcastically in the one recreation the Lakers received.
Doncic can rebound, and naturally, so can LeBron James, who reached double digits in rebounds 3 times within the sequence. Nevertheless, your two greatest offensive threats mustn’t even be your high rebounders.
It is too taxing on the our bodies of a 40-year-old James and Doncic at his conditioning degree to be requested to compete for as many rebounds as they’re for the Lakers to compete in a Western Convention stuffed with measurement and athletic large males.
This isn’t information to Lakers president of basketball operations and common supervisor Rob Pelinka. He is aware of the Lakers do not have large males they will depend on like they did after they received a championship in 2020 with Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee roaming underneath the basket.
Assuming James returns for his 23rd NBA season, Pelinka’s high precedence shall be reshaping the roster to greatest match round an growing old legend and the star he’ll ultimately cross the torch to.
However it doesn’t matter what the Lakers do within the offseason, Doncic continues to show he’ll produce whatever the circumstances round him. The strain is now on the Lakers to place the workforce in one of the best place to really contend for an additional championship, thus concurrently maximizing the tip of James’ profession and the prime years of Doncic.
