The Los Angeles Lakers have been the hottest team in the NBA since the trade deadline, winning nine of their 10 games since acquiring Luka Doncic from Dallas in a stunning middle of the night move.
That run has vaulted the Lakers from the Play-In race to second in the Western Conference, as they’ve taken advantage of a stretch where a lot of teams in the West have been sputtering. What’s stood out in particular is that the Lakers have done all of this without Luka operating at his absolute best for much of their recent hot streak. Doncic is averaging just 22.9 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 7.7 assists on 40/30/72 shooting splits since arriving in L.A., as it took him a couple of weeks to process the trade and get back into a rhythm.
While Doncic has gotten acclimated to his new digs, it’s been LeBron James that has been dominating in his new role playing a bit more off the ball and embracing life alongside Luka. James won the NBA’s Player of the Month honors in February, averaging 29.3 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 6.9 assists per game as the Lakers went 10-2, and there seemed to be some renewed pep in his step after the trade. That has been noticeable to just about everyone that’s watched a Lakers game recently, including James’ friends, as Carmelo Anthony talked on his 7PM in Brooklyn podcast this week about how he’s never seen LeBron look this happy on the court.
As Anthony explains, James seems to thoroughly enjoy playing with a playmaker of Luka’s caliber and is freed up to just run the floor, make cuts, and hunt mismatches, knowing he finally has a teammate that will see him and get him the ball on time and on target. While Doncic’s shooting touch has been slow to make the move to L.A., his passing touch has been on full display and James has been the recipient of more than a few outlet passes from Luka.
On the other end, Anthony highlighted the way the Lakers have managed to craft a defensive game plan that leverages their long-armed wings to switch all the time and keep Doncic roaming and moving so he can’t be hunted. All of that seems to have LeBron fully engaged in the game on both ends, and for any fans who have felt there’s been a little more joy in James’ game of late, it’s nice to get a little confirmation of that from someone that knows LeBron as well as anyone.