The Los Angeles Lakers have two of the most high-usage players in the NBA in Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. It's quite a luxury for Los Angeles to be able to turn to two stars with such regularity, but it also creates the potential for predictability and stagnation.
Thankfully, the Lakers have made progress toward addressing that potential issue by signing guard Collin Sexton. It's all a matter of his decisive mentality.
Sexton is an eight-year veteran who has managed to provide efficient scoring with impressive volume throughout his career. Whether he's been a team's go-to scorer or a complementary piece of the puzzle, he's never seemed to struggle to stuff the stat sheet without compromising his efficiency.
During his first interview as a Laker, Sexton was asked about the efficient scoring he's provided to his teams in the past and explained that achieving such success boils down to how a player approaches their decision-making.
For those who can't watch the video, Sexton said the following:
"Being efficient is something that I can control. Trying to shoot the right shots, make the right plays, and read the game. If the game says shoot, shoot. If the game says pass, pass. This whole summer, that's all I've been focusing on. Making things a little bit simpler. Reading closeouts, reading if they're back. Let it fly and having the confidence to continue to shoot."
Sexton continued, acknowledging the fact that his jump shot was a question mark coming out of college and discussing how he's put in the work to be an efficient shooter and will continue to do so.
"I feel like that was something that was a huge knock on me coming into the league. 'Can he shoot? Can he shoot?' I feel like I've been able to continue to improve, and I know I have a lot more growth to get there, just percentage wise and attempts wise. But I feel like I can shoot the ball pretty well. I think those things allow me to be efficient and it's all about a mindset."
Considering the limitations of the guards that the Lakers have moved in and out of the rotation to complement Doncic and Reaves over the past season-and-a-half, Sexton sounds like a breath of fresh air.
Collin Sexton reads the game and asserts himself as a scorer, playmaker
Sexton was being rather modest in regard to how far he's already come as a jump shooter. He's shot at least 40.1 percent from beyond the arc in three of his eight NBA seasons, including each of the past two. He's buried at least 38.0 percent of his attempts in another three.
Sexton shot 37.1 percent from distance in one of the two exceptions, with the other being the 2021-22 campaign—when he played 11 games before suffering a season-ending knee injury.
In addition to shooting efficiently from three, Sexton has maintained a remarkable balance of volume and efficiency overall. He's accumulated career averages of 18.3 points per game and 22.8 points per 36 minutes while shooting at a clip of .472/.389/.841.
If Sexton can provide that type of production off of the bench for the Lakers in 2026-27, the predictability they struggled to overcome in the past could be eliminated.
Lakers needed a scoring guard who's willing to assert themselves
Los Angeles has enlisted a number of quality guards to back Doncic and Reaves up in the past, including Luke Kennard, Marcus Smart, and Gabe Vincent. Kennard and Vincent were passive as scorers and playmakers, however, and Smart lacked the efficiency to truly hold an opponent accountable.
Thankfully, at each of his previous stops, Sexton experienced no such trouble in regard to asserting himself on offense in a system that typically prioritized his small surplus of high-volume teammates.
Sexton has accumulated his aforementioned career statistics while playing next to the likes of LaMelo Ball, Jordan Clarkson, Darius Garland, Lauri Markkanen, and Brandon Miller. Despite having to defer to many of those players, he still managed to score at a high level, shoot with efficiency, and prevent himself from fading into the background. In other words: He's the antithesis of the Lakers' previous backups.
Doncic and Reaves will still be the focal points on offense, but Sexton's willingness to ensure he's involved without making reckless plays qualifies him to be a perfect fit on that end of the floor.
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