The Los Angeles Lakers had their fair share of early-season struggles, but one of the team's biggest issues early into the 2025-26 campaign was the hierarchy of their star trio.
When you're dealing with two giant names like Luka Doncic and LeBron James, balancing those egos, touches, and overall involvement offensively can be hard. It becomes even more difficult when you add a third player in Austin Reaves, who has broken out into a near 25-point-per-game scorer himself.
It makes sense that it took a second-year coach JJ Redick as long as it did to figure out everyone's roles and have everyone buy in. Now, with Luka operating as the offensive engine, LeBron as the lead playmaker, and Reaves getting his offense from what the other two create, the Lakers look unstoppable.
Among the three players, the most impressive in his new role has been LeBron.
Sure, Luka scoring 30-plus points in 11 straight games is incredible, but he's also a top-five superstar at the peak of his career, so that level of production isn’t surprising. For LeBron, since taking on this playmaking forward role, he's opened things up so much for Doncic and Reaves, which inevitably rewards him as a scorer.
LeBron's role shift has altered the Lakers postseason outlook
Wednesday night against the Indiana Pacers, James dished out nine assists, grabbed nine rebounds, but most impressively, scored 23 points. With LeBron now the clear third scoring option, his touches are limited, which means fewer 3-point attempts. When he does touch the ball, he's making a quick pass or going hard to the basket. Seven of his nine made field goals against Indiana came at the rim.
To some, that may sound like underutilizing LeBron's talents, but it's quite the opposite.
LBJ's level of greatness, especially as a playmaker, makes this role perfect for him at this point in his career. Being able to set up two other elite scorers forces defenses to focus on them, making LeBron an afterthought.
When defenses treat LeBron as an afterthought, as was the case against Indiana on Wednesday, then he ends up going off for 15 points in the first half, while still doing some playmaking and rebounding.
Circling back to LeBron not shooting triples, with him only shooting under 33 percent from 3-point this season, having him scale back that part of his game has only made him more effective. Over the Lakers' last five games, James has attempted only 1.4 3-point shots per game, creating more long-range opportunities for players like Luka, AR, Luke Kennard, Rui Hachimura, etc.
Many Lakers fans were ready to write the season off at one point and chalk it up as the final year of the LeBron era, expecting a return to contention in 2026-27. But now with this new version of LeBron unlocked, LA looks like as much of a contender as any team in the Western Conference.