As the Los Angeles Lakers search for ways to build a contender around Luka Doncic, rim protection must become a top priority. It's a realization founded not only in what's known about an ideal roster structure, but Doncic's past success.
The Lakers are hopeful that Deandre Ayton can excel in that capacity, but if that dream fails to materialize, they must be willing to evaluate other options.
Doncic is a world-class offensive player, capable of running every facet of a system. Over the past six seasons, he's accumulated averages of 30.0 points and 8.7 assists on .474/.353/.757 shooting, winning the 2023-24 scoring title and earning five All-NBA First Team selections.
With that extraordinary level of offensive proficiency, Doncic is the ultimate franchise player as far as consistently creating points is concerned.
Doncic's history of team success, however, has been the same as any other superstar: Dependent upon what's around them. He can carry a significantly heavier workload than most, but his trip to the 2024 NBA Finals revealed the optimal roster structure for a team he's leading.
With the duo of Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II at center, the Dallas Mavericks proved how dominant Doncic can be with top-tier rim protection behind him.
Luka Doncic thrives with high-level rim protection behind him
Lively finished the 2023-24 season averaging 1.4 blocks per game and 2.1 blocks per 36 minutes. Gafford was a mid-season acquisition, but he hit the ground running with averages of 1.9 blocks per game and 3.2 per 36 minutes once he joined the Mavericks.
Together, Gafford and Lively made for perhaps the most dominant interior defensive duo in the NBA—and the Mavericks' defense inevitably enabled Doncic to maximize his impact.
In the first round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs, Dallas held the LA Clippers to just 100.3 points per game on 43.4 percent shooting. In the second round, the Mavericks limited the Oklahoma City Thunder to 101 or fewer points in three of the final four games of a 4-2 series win.
Dallas then completed a gentleman's sweep of the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals, during which it held All-NBA big man Karl-Anthony Towns to 37.9 percent shooting from the field.
The Mavericks allowed just 41.5 points in the paint per game during the 2024 NBA Playoffs—fourth overall and third among teams that won at least one series. It was a driving force behind their success, as it enabled Doncic and Kyrie Irving to turn successful offensive possessions into momentum-swinging events.
Factoring in the need to adequately defend bigs such as Nikola Jokic and slashers such as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, adequate interior defense is a non-negotiable.
Perhaps Ayton and Jaxson Hayes will live up to those expectations and give the Lakers the interior support they need. Both are remarkably talented, albeit while inconsistently translating their abilities to past defensive success.
Regardless of where it comes from, the Lakers can't justify going through the 2025-26 season without finding Doncic the interior support he needs.