How Luka Dončic can unleash the Lakers offense

https://twitter.com/LakerTom/status/1889681724172533763

The Lakers have been on a roll as of late. Over the past 10 games, their offense has been humming along.

During this stretch, L.A. has been first in true shooting percentage at 63.3% and a top-five squad in offensive rating at 120.9. The Lakers also have the second-best plus-minus in the NBA over the last 10 games at +135.

Now that Luka Dončić made his debut on Monday against the Jazz, there is excitement about how much higher this team can go and how Luka can unlock its full potential.

Backcourt mate Austin Reaves mentioned the implementation of Luka as something that could be “a thing of beauty” offensively. So, what can that expectation become in reality? How does Luka’s presence create new opportunities for the Lakers?

First, let’s take a look at the raw numbers. The reason why Luka is a five-time All-NBA First Team player is due to his offensive output. This season, he averages 27.5 points, 8.2 rebounds and 7.7 assists per game.

Simply sticking Luka on this roster means you can expect an increase in scoring as a team, improved positional rebounding from your starting point guard all while, you know, having one of the best on-ball players in the league that defenses have to focus on.

With Dončić attracting so much attention, teams will collapse on him and free up shooters around the perimeter.

Last season, Luka was second in the NBA in assists, making him one of the best passers in the league. He is notorious for finding open shooters and whipping the ball with such force and skill that he can place it in angles that don’t seem possible. Even in his lackluster Lakers debut, we saw flashes of this.

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With Anthony Davis and LeBron, it was a consistent partnership. It was a forward collaborating with a big man. So, there was still an element of feeding AD the ball and ensuring he got involved in productive actions. This was always in the Lakers’ best interest, but expanding Davis’s impact required another layer of work.

With Luka, we saw moments when Lakers head coach JJ Redick staggered his stars. This should allow LeBron to rest and the offense can still hum along with him off the floor. His minutes on the floor also won’t have to be as taxing since he can play even more off-ball now that Luka can take on that duty and excel as the offensive initiator.

No Lakers team has ever been able to do that. When together, there is still a sharing of the basketball that can happen between LeBron, Luka and even Austin Reaves.

Some talking heads have questioned how this could work with both needing the ball, but one, LeBron plays off the ball so much already and two, it’s not a bad thing to have multiple people who do many things well.

None of us know how much longer LeBron will play and how many more productive miles are left in his legs. So, if Luka can carry some of LeBron’s offensive burden with this team and potentially even extend the life of the most dominant player in NBA history, that’s worth its weight in gold.

No player is perfect and no situation is flawless. However, it’s already pretty clear that the Lakers adding an explosive player like Luka will help everyone in tangible and intangible ways.

Right now, everything is on the table, from increased 3-point shooting to more assists and dominant scoring in the paint.

Execution will be key and doing this on the fly, with a little over a quarter of the season left, will be difficult. Ultimately though, these are exactly the kind of good problems you want to be dealing with if you are the Lakers.

You have Luka and LeBron together and a couple of unproven young teams in front of you in the standings. Let’s see how high Luka can fly in the City of Angels.