On Tuesday evening, the Los Angeles Lakers continued their NBA preseason slate with a road loss to the Phoenix Suns. Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves put on a show in this one, scoring 25 points apiece in limited minutes with the regular season just one week away.
After the game, Doncic spoke on his camaraderie with Lakers head coach JJ Redick, who was signed to an extension this offseason that will carry him through the 2029-30 season. During his interview, Doncic made a joke about his time as teammates with Redick on the Dallas Mavericks.
“I had to carry JJ when he was my teammate [with the Mavs]. He couldn't move at all, so I had to carry him big time,” said Doncic.
Indeed, Redick and Doncic were teammates at the tail-end of the 2020-2021 season, with the team losing in the first round to the Los Angeles Clippers that year.
Is this Lakers team legit?
Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) and guard Austin Reaves (15) during the game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Lakers at American Airlines Center.
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
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Last week, the Los Angeles Lakers got some tough news on the injury front when it was announced that star LeBron James would be out for 3-4 weeks due to an injury, as reported by ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania.
With this being the case, the Lakers may have to rely on Doncic even more heavily than anticipated to get them through a rough opening stretch of the schedule.
Doncic was already going to be the clear number one option heading into this season, but now that James is sidelined, he figures to handle virtually all of the ball-handling duties for Los Angeles, with Austin Reaves being asked to step into a true second option role for the first time in his career.
It will also be interesting to see how JJ Redick handles the lineup configurations, especially while James is sidelined. There was already some question as to whether or not Redick would look to potentially start Marcus Smart in order to give Los Angeles some semblance of backcourt defense, but now with James out, a whole new slew of questions has arisen.
The Lakers will kick off their 2025-26 season on October 21 at home against the Golden State Warriors.