There were some who were scratching their heads over how the pairing of LeBron James and Luka Doncic would co-exist for the Los Angeles Lakers. The overlap in terms of their skill sets was creating more questions than answers in certain discussions.
A one-game sample size against the lottery-bound Utah Jazz is an imperfect collection of data. However, the new duo in Los Angeles looked just fine in their first outing together.
Doncic finished his Lakers debut with 14 points, five rebounds, and four assists during 24 minutes on the court. James posted 24 points, seven rebounds, and eight assists in 29 minutes of action. The Lakers, meanwhile, absolutely routed the Jazz for a dominant 132-113 victory.
Similar skill sets should not be a problem for Lakers
In a lot of ways, James and Doncic are very similar players. This should come as no surprise considering who the Slovenian superstar grew up idolizing (hint: it's his new 40-year-old teammate). How that was possibly viewed as a bad thing to some is hard to wrap one's head around after seeing the offense in their first game together.
This should offer a lot of encouragement considering the two will still have a lot to figure out in terms of each other's tendencies and playing off one another. If these are the early stages then the final product should be marvelous.
James made a loud and clear statement before the game in the team huddle. The older of the two superstars said, "Luka, be your [expletive] self. Don't fit in, fit the [expletive] out."
Even with that encouragement, the NBA world knows Doncic is capable of so much more than the statistical performance the 25-year-old had in this one. Considering this was Luka's first game back from injury and a brand-new environment, a modest start should have been mostly expected. Despite that, the Lakers offense was humming.
The ball was flying around, finding the best shot. The energy was off the charts. It was the perfect storm for the Lakers to run the Jazz out of the building for their sixth straight win.
Mike Trudell reported after the game that Lakers head coach JJ Redick was loving what he saw. The rookie bench boss said, "I’m most excited about the spirit of the group. It’s a process to build an identity, and it’s not easy. Our overall group buy-in is at a high level.”
With players sounding ready to reconfigure around Doncic and James, the former of the two was ready to talk about his new running mate to the media. Lakers Daily highlighted how excited Luka was to have a teammate who can dissect the game at a similar level to that of the five-time All-NBA First Team member.
"He [LeBron] sees the game in a different way than a lot of people. His IQ's insane. Just to have two guys like that on the court is gonna help the team out," Doncic said after the contest.
Figuring out who commands the ball and who takes a backseat, between LeBron and Luka, may have been an oversight to the fact that these are two of the most gifted passers in NBA history. The Lakers finished the game shooting 54% from the field, outperforming their season averages in categories such as 3-pointers made, assists per game, and points off turnovers.
Once again, this was only game number one.