The Los Angeles Lakers are off to an impressive 7-2 start to the 2025-26 season in LeBron James‘ absence, and Paul Pierce thinks his old rival should have a new role when he returns. Pierce surprisingly stated on his Ticket & The Truth podcast that James should no longer be a starter for the Lakers.
“For this to work when LeBron comes back, LeBron got to come off the bench,” Pierce said. “The way you want it to work, he got to come off the bench.”
The Lakers’ offense has been flowing well at the start of this season thanks to Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. Their 117.7 offensive rating ranked 5th in the NBA heading into Friday’s games, and Pierce thinks James, who has been out due to sciatica, will disrupt what they have going on right now.
“Bron’s gravitational pull is too strong,” Pierce earlier stated. “When he out there, he gonna command so much. He gotta have a big part of the offense, and it’s gonna take away from what they’re doing right now.”
Co-host Kevin Garnett didn’t quite share Pierce’s opinion on this matter. Garnett believes James, who has been cleared for contact basketball activities, will make life easier for everyone else on the Lakers with that gravitational pull. He also disagreed with Pierce on the subject of the 21-time All-Star coming off the bench.
“You asking him to come off the bench when he can actually start?” Garnett said. “Lord, he ain’t dipping in play… You want the greatest player to come off the bench now ’cause one of your third and fourth guys is doing better.”
James averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 8.2 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game for the Lakers in 2024-25. He made the All-NBA Second Team and has gas left in the tank.
Having James come off the bench when he can produce at this level seems ridiculous, but Pierce thinks he can churn out similar numbers in that role, too.
“He can still give you the same production,” Pierce said. “But off the bench, it’ll work because his game and Luka game don’t work together.”
It’s way too early to say that Doncic and James won’t work as a duo. Are they more effective on the ball than off it? Yes, but we have seen James play off the ball more in recent years.
These two also played fairly well together last season, considering Doncic only arrived via trade from the Dallas Mavericks in February 2025. They have now had a training camp together, albeit with James not being a full participant, and you’d expect them to be more comfortable with each other on the court this season.
Even on the off chance that James and Doncic aren’t meshing as well as you’d have thought, the Lakers are not going to have the former come off the bench. No team in the NBA would do that to a player of his caliber.
This was a wild hot take from Pierce, and it wasn’t the only one he served during this episode. He also thinks the Lakers are better off without James and should trade him.
Pierce doesn’t think the Lakers, as presently constructed, will be coming out of the West this season. He ranked the likes of the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Denver Nuggets ahead of them.
Pierce believes trading James for a couple of smaller pieces would give the Lakers a better chance of winning. Considering the four-time NBA champion has a no-trade clause, he’s only going away if he wants to and to a team that he likes. It just complicates matters, and so, don’t expect a James trade this season.
