The Los Angeles Lakers were always going to need fans to be patient with their development into a championship-caliber team. They completed a rare superstar-for-superstar trade in 2024-25, swapping two-way big man Anthony Davis out for playmaking guard Luka Doncic.
No shortage of improvements have been made in the year-plus since, but the burning question of whether or not this team can ideally complement Luka Doncic has been answered: Yes.
Los Angeles spent much of the 2024-25 season attempting to fit pieces together that no one truly understood the complexities of. It still won 50 games, but a first-round exit was all but inevitable after having only so much time to develop chemistry.
According to Law Murray of The Athletic, Lakers big man Jaxson Hayes discussed how the luxury of a full season with Doncic has allowed this team to grow alongside him.
“All of us have been here besides Luke since the beginning of the season, so all of us have had time to grow and play with each other, be able to hoop with each other the past few months...So we’ve been able to build good chemistry.”
Though the trade for Doncic was widely applauded, perhaps a stronger degree of patience should've been permitted to a team that was destined to encounter a learning curve.
Can Lakers' current core play with Luka Doncic? Emphatically: Yes.
For as great as he is, Doncic isn't the type of player who can be plugged into a system without concessions being made. That's not an insult to him, as he's capable of adapting to his surroundings. Adaptation simply isn't all that's being asked of the franchise player and his teammates in this unique situation.
Doncic is the epitome of a ball-dominant guard, as he not only ranks No. 1 in the NBA in points per game and No. 4 in assists, but places among the league leaders in most volume stats.
For one, Doncic is No. 1 in the NBA in field goal attempts per game at 23.0—1.1 more than the next-leading player. He's also No. 1 in usage rate at 36.9—the highest mark by a player who's appeared in at least 50 games since Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2022-23.
On a per-game basis, Doncic is even No. 2 in the NBA in three-point field goal attempts, No. 5 in isolation attempts, and No. 11 in drives.
Gaining experience as teammates has Lakers looking like a contender
Each of those facts has played a definitive role in guiding the Lakers to resounding team success. In saying that, it was also irrational to expect a new franchise player with such ball-dominant tendencies to help a team realize their full potential when they joined forces in the middle of the season—let alone with two star-caliber teammates waiting to greet him at his new destination.
Those are the exact set of circumstances that Doncic was asked to win in during the 2024-25 campaign, when he didn't have the luxury of a training camp or a full season to develop chemistry.
Even now, the Lakers have encountered significant hurdles during their first full season with Doncic. Reaves missed 26 games and James was not only sidelined from 21, but was asked to adjust his role from that of a No. 2 to a No. 3.
Thankfully, the Lakers have had a full season to navigate these issues instead of the 28 that Doncic appeared in for them a year ago. It's made all the difference in the world.