Luka Doncic has already looked unguardable to start the 2025-26 NBA season. Imagine how much harder the task of holding him down gets with LeBron James about to return to the Los Angeles Lakers lineup.
Doncic is leading the NBA in points per game right now with 34.4 a night. The Lakers superstar point guard is also chipping in 8.9 assists per game to go with that. Those kinds of contributions have put him right into the MVP discussion to start the year.
Some teams may think it will be best to get the ball out of Doncic's hands by any means necessary. If they do, Austin Reaves confidently thought having James back in the lineup would punish defenses who want to apply that approach.
"He’s the greatest player to ever touch a basketball so he’s going to do what he does," Reaves said of James to Dave McMenamin. "I think everybody blitzes Luka now. ... Give him [LeBron] a four-on-three advantage and I believe that good things will happen."
Lakers offense will comfortably reap the benefits of LeBron James return
Reaves highlighted how playing with that kind of advantage is something James has probably never enjoyed before. The Lakers guard noted how his superstar teammate has always been the focus of everybody's scouting report for 23 years.
No defense is going to forget about James entirely. However, it is more than fair to say Doncic is the best offensive player on the Lakers. The primary concerns will be going towards slowing him down.
Reaves thought James would be positioned in the offense in a place to reap the rewards of Doncic being attacked. Whether it be as the short roller or the second guy in the high quad, LeBron will get his openings.
At that point, one of the greatest basketball minds that the NBA has ever seen gets giftwrapped opportunity to break down an out of position defense. Creating a scoring opportunity for himself or his teammates will be handed to James on a silver platter.
If defenses start to back off the idea of blitzing Doncic to get the ball out of his hands, imagine what that does for Luka. Suddenly, the offensive mastermind gets the type of single coverage that would make defenders shake in their basketball shoes.
One way or another, mismatches are bound to get created by adding LeBron back into the mix. Reaves sees it, and pretty soon, so will the rest of the league.