Soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimovic once said of his unimpressive time at FC Barcelona, “You bought a Ferrari, but you drive it like a Fiat.”
Luka and LeBron’s first season in LA could be described in the same way.
High Expectations
When Luka Dončić and LeBron James were brought together in Los Angeles this year, it was clear that the NBA season had gifted fans a basketball Ferrari of sorts.
It was the sort of star power that any team would dream of having. It certainly filled the seats in Crypto.com Arena. Lakers tickets already ranked as one of the most expensive in the league, but prices rose 19% after the Doncic trade.
The trade came with lofty expectations as well. Numerous analysts and fans alike felt it was a trade that had completely flipped the Western Conference.
People picked the Lakers to win the West; some even picked them to win a ring. Players on the team also echoed these championship hopes. Going into the postseason, Austin Reaves said at a press conference, “I feel like we can win a championship, to be honest with you.”
And right after the Luka trade, the Lakers went on a tear. They destroyed good team after good team. In multiple instances, these wins came with one of Luka or LeBron sitting on the bench, which was a strong sign that the Lakers were decently deep.
Crashing Down to Reality
Yet, not much longer after their peak, the Lakers found themselves sitting at home watching the second round of the playoffs.
The Minnesota Timberwolves destroyed Los Angeles in the first round, sending them home in five games. Much of that can be explained by a lack of a rim protector. Jaxson Hayes quickly became unreliable against the Timberwolves, averaging just 7.8 minutes per game. On the other side, Rudy Gobert and Naz Reid both had exceptional series.
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No Organization in the Clutch
Acting like everything went wrong because LA lacked a center would be incorrect.
The Lakers were competing in many of their playoff games, and even kept many of them rather close. As the series went on, it became clear that the Lakers couldn’t organize their clutch offense, failing to produce in the final five minutes.
While Minnesota was able to consistently get downhill and find open shooters in the corners, Luka, and sometimes LeBron, attempted to play primarily in isolation. Instead of running sets, many Lakers stood around watching the play develop.
In Game 3, for example, Anthony Edwards was able to take advantage of this stagnation, hitting three massive shots in the last five minutes of the game to take the win.
A more heartbreaking version of this occurred in Game 4 of the series when Luka and LeBron each missed two shots in the final five minutes of the game. With the exception of one LeBron layup from a Luka assist, each of these shots was taken too early and in isolation. No actions were run involving both of them. The only reason the game stayed within reach was because of Laker role players Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura.
At no point throughout these “clutch” minutes did the Lakers run a successful combined action for Lebron and Luka together. In fact, one of the main complaints of Game 3 specifically was that LeBron never touched the basketball in important moments; this was in the middle of him having a 38 point game.
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A Look to the Future
Currently, there is a lot of hope for the future in Los Angeles. How could there not be? Dončić is by all accounts a top-five NBA player. Lebron James is still producing at a second-team All-NBA level.
But until they work together as a unit, the Ferrari will always just be a Fiat.
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