Luka Doncic has that rare quality that only the very best superstars throughout NBA history can lay claim to. Doncic can get just about anyone to look as close to their best on the floor as possible. That immediate advantage to building a roster should make Rob Pelinka smile.
Granted, it is still important to identify players who are going to be good fits with the Slovenian superstar. However, even a suboptimal situation will be made to look a whole lot better when Doncic is in the mix.
The offensive wizardry of the Slovenian superstar, in particular, will always make life easy on that side of the court. The barrier of entry to playing good basketball on the attack is much lower next to Luka.
That gives Pelinka an obvious focus of what to do as the Los Angeles Lakers general manager takes on the task of putting together a contender around Doncic. The offensive model is simple, the focus falls on the other side of the court.
Lakers offense won't fail — defense needs the attention
It is obvious what the formula is for a Doncic-led offensive attack, isn't it? The Lakers will want to surround Luka with shooters and rim-running big men. ESPN recently pointed this sentiment out in one of the write-ups from their group of NBA insiders.
Say what you will about the Dallas Mavericks and their incredibly ill-advised trade of Luka to the Lakers, which fans in Los Angeles are forever grateful for. However, they really did hone in on a roster built around Doncic that understood what it needed to do.
Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford were there to roll to the rim and anchor the defense. Doncic made the lives of both big men tremendously easier on offense by his presence. Who could forget the Mavericks blitzing the rim with alley-oops in the 2024 Western Conference Finals?
Give Luka an athletic big man and the superstar point guard can make him an effective rim runner. That much was clear from the Jaxson Hayes experience.
What should be just as evident is Doncic's ability to help the shooters around him become absolute marksman. Dorian Finney-Smith serves as a great example.
Before Luka arrived in Dallas, Finney-Smith was a subpar shooter from distance. After that? The former Maverick and Laker was sniping 3-point looks at a rate much closer to 40 percent than his previous below-average display.
What these players have in common, between Gafford, Lively, and Finney-Smith, is what the Lakers will need to pin down. They were strong defenders.
Crafting a group of capable two-way options around Doncic allowed the Mavericks to enjoy one of the five best defensive ratings in the 2024 NBA Playoffs at 110.7. Even with Luka's overstated limitations, Dallas delivered defensively.
Their run ended with a loss to the Boston Celtics in the 2024 NBA Finals. However, the model for success with Doncic was established. Copying Nico Harrison may not be good advice under a lot of other circumstances. In this instance, Doncic's superpowers pave the way for it.