The Los Angeles Lakers entered the 2024-25 regular season with a combination of franchise players to whom few teams can compare. With Anthony Davis and LeBron James, the Lakers were led by a duo who had already won a championship and reached a second Conference Finals.
Despite the fact that Los Angeles was well on its way to another postseason appearance, the organization has maneuvered to potentially exit the season with an entirely different star duo.
Davis was traded to the Dallas Mavericks at a time when the Lakers were 28-19, including 7-2 over their past nine games. It was a shocking development that sent shockwaves across the NBA, with new franchise player Luka Doncic making his way into the purple and gold.
James is still in Los Angeles, but as he battles a groin injury, it's becoming abundantly clear that the star duo of the future is ready to excel beyond his playing career.
James is well on his way to another All-NBA selection, but he's also 40 and battling a string of injuries. He's missed at least 26 games in four of his six completed seasons with the Lakers, and is at nine games and counting in 2024-25—with a 10th scheduled to be completed on Mar. 19.
As the Lakers evaluate what life will look like after James, the silver lining to an otherwise harrowing reality is that Doncic and Austin Reaves are looking the part of a star-caliber duo.
Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves can lead Lakers into the future
Doncic is as proven a commodity as one will find in the NBA. He's a five-time All-NBA First Team honoree, the reigning scoring champion, and a five-time All-Star who has led teams to the NBA Finals and Western Conference Finals as a No. 1 player.
The hope is that Doncic and James will get the most they can out of their generational pairing, but the future seems to include Reaves—and the future could be now.
Reaves has been tremendous in 2024-25, posting new career-best averages in points, assists, rebounds, steals, and three-point field goals made. That includes the 19.6 points and 6.0 assists that he's averaged in 34.6 minutes per game.
Reaves has shifted into a higher gear since Feb. 1, averaging 22.5 points per game while proving he can coexist with Doncic and lead the Lakers to resounding success.
Los Angeles has gone 13-6 with Reaves in the lineup during that time, which equates to a 56-win pace. Along the way, he's gone off to the tune of a career-high 45 points against the Indiana Pacers, and 37 points and 13 assists against the Denver Nuggets.
Reaves is also averaging 30.8 points and 7.0 assists per game over the Lakers' past four outings, which may be the most intriguing development of all.
Los Angeles is a significantly better team when James is available, but the promise of Doncic and Reaves is unavoidable. Both are capable of erupting as a scorer and taking over as a playmaker, with Reaves providing relief in both respects when Doncic isn't on his game.
The future will be defined by the Lakers' ability to find adequate talent to help overcome James' eventual retirement, but the star duo of the future appears to already be in place.