The Los Angeles Lakers are entering the post-LeBron era with two stars at the head of their squad ... and they both get along. Really well. Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves don't just have on-court synergy. They also communicate all of the time off the court as friends, a reality that Reaves revealed recently.
“He’s one of my best friends on this planet," Reaves said on Monday, per ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "I talk to him almost every single day. He sends me videos of his golf swing and asks me what he can do to get better and I tell him I’m not a coach."
Luka Doncic-Austin Reaves friendship should fuel excellent Lakers chemistry
While the Lakers of this new era aren't flawless on paper, at least we can assume that team chemistry should be smooth, so long as Doncic and Reaves remain in LA. When you're best player or you're best two players are bringing good energy everyday -- as Luka and AR do when they feed off each other -- there's a trickle-down effect.
When the Lakers were at their best in 2025-26, they were fun. The players were having fun. Luka and AR were joking in interviews following wins. Everything was light and loose. It's just basketball.
That's the kind of culture that should persist into 2026-27 and beyond, now that the Lakers are committed to both Doncic and Reaves for multiple years.
It's rare to have a pair of superstar teammates who are good friends ... just ask the Boston Celtics
Lakers fans shouldn't take the Doncic-Reaves friendship for granted. This doesn't happen often in the NBA. Players of this caliber are often islands and have a difficult time connecting genuinely with teammates, especially in the sense of being equals. There's ego involved, just like in every pro sport.
The controversial Jaylen Brown trade that the Celtics just made was reportedly mostly for financial reasons and basketball reasons, but there have been plenty of reports that Brown and Jayson Tatum weren't great friends -- certainly not on the level of Doncic and Reaves.
And let's be clear -- the goal of NBA basketball isn't to be friends with each other. It's to win, and Brown and Tatum did a whole lot of winning as a duo in Boston. They won a title together, after all.
Yet, to sustain their partnership, it would've taken more than winning. Had The Jays been close friends and "talking every day" as it seems like Doncic and Reaves practically do, it's not difficult to imagine that this entire Celtics era would have persisted with both Brown and Tatum in tow. At the very least, Brad Stevens and Boston's front office would have felt less okay about trading Brown.
The Brown/Tatum do isn't entirely comparable to the Doncic/Reaves duo. Again, the Celtics won a championship with Brown and Tatum, and Brown is closer to Tatum in talent as a Robin figure than Reaves is to Doncic. Brown was more like a second Batman. AR is more of a classic, clear Robin to Luka's Batman, whereas there was more gray area in The Jays' partnership.
That being said, Celtics fans must look at Doncic and Reaves and wonder what could have happened in Boston if The Jays were friends on a similar level. The same can be said for other dynamic NBA duos that expired with potential championships left on the table, like Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal.
Friendship doesn't necessarily lead to winning, but it can help preserve a good thing in a league where rosters are continually being broken up for a myriad of reasons. Lakers fans who enjoy this current duo don't have to worry too much about it breaking up anytime soon.
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