The Los Angeles Lakers’ recent four-game losing streak notwithstanding, the team’s decision to part ways with star big man Anthony Davis and other assets for guard Luka Doncic has aged well to this point.
It took some time for Doncic to get his feet wet with his new team, but he seems to have found his footing on the offensive end at this point.
The Lakers have also fared quite well as a team in the games both Doncic and LeBron James have played in this season. James and Doncic have shared the court 11 times thus far, and Los Angeles has won all but three of those contests.
Still, according to Jovan Buha, there was “initial fear” that James would want out of Los Angeles when the Doncic trade happened because James was not consulted about the deal.
“I know in talking to lower-level people — in the just immediate aftermath of the trade and the situation there was a sense of like, ‘There’s no way LeBron knew,'” Buha said. “And doing a trade of this magnitude and not giving him the heads-up — he’s been the guy since he entered the league.”
He continued.
“I think there’s a sense of with LeBron there’s — especially a big move like that, trading A.D. (Anthony Davis), remaking the franchise that there would be some sense of giving him a heads-up. And the fact that there wasn’t, and his impending contract situation and Klutch theoretically losing some power with A.D. getting traded that would potentially lead to him asking out or at least exploring that option. … I know from talking to some people around the situation, that was an initial fear. But really within the first 24 hours, that got snuffed out and it was clear that LeBron was going to be staying.”
James and Doncic have proven to be quite the dynamic duo in Los Angeles, but they haven’t shared the floor since the team saw its eight-game winning streak get snapped at the hands of the Boston Celtics on March 8. James injured his groin in that contest and has been sidelined ever since, though Buha did report that he could return to the lineup for Los Angeles “by the end of the week.”
Assuming James and forward Rui Hachimura can stave off the injury bug when they start suiting up for the Lakers again, the NBA’s oldest player might have his best chance of making a deep playoff run in a while when the 2025 NBA Playoffs start up in April.
After all, Los Angeles is on track to finish with the most wins in a single season since the 2019-20 campaign. Of course, after such a successful 2019-20 regular season, the Lakers went on to win their 17th championship in franchise history in 2020.
Plus, the Lakers have a player in Doncic who just recently led the Dallas Mavericks deep into the 2024 NBA Playoffs. The Mavericks reached the NBA Finals a year ago for the first time since former big man Dirk Nowitzki was with Dallas, though the team was outmatched by the Celtics in the championship series.