LeBron James and Luka Doncic are now teammates on the Los Angeles Lakers and while they’re two of the best players in the league, not everyone is certain they’ll play well together. Indiana Pacers head coach isn’t part of that group, though, as he stated the two will be great together before his team took on the Lakers on Saturday.
“I don’t see any world in which it doesn’t work great. We’re talking about two guys who when they came into the world and started playing basketball were expected to have statues built for them. The level of expectation on these two guys is hard to fathom.
“As I was around Luka more and more, I became more aware of the kind of pressure that must be on him. He has such charisma, ability, skill … he goes into a game and just decides how it’s going to be played. LeBron does the exact same way.”
James and Doncic dictate games in a way that few in the NBA can. Carlisle benefited from that ability for a while, as he was the Slovenian’s head coach on the Dallas Mavericks from 2018 to 2021. Little did the two know at the time, but under 4 years after Carlisle’s departure, Doncic would be on his way out of Dallas too.
It’s still surreal to think that Doncic is now with James on the Lakers. It will take these two a little bit of time to get used to playing with each other and once that happens, they’ll cause havoc.
Doncic is averaging 28.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, 7.8 assists, 2.0 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game in 2024-25 while James is putting up 24.5 points, 7.8 rebounds, 9.0 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game. They might just be the best duo in the NBA on paper and it will be interesting to see how long it takes them to get in sync.
Fortunately for Carlisle, neither of the two played against his Pacers on Saturday. Before the game, Doncic hilariously told his former head coach, “You should be happy I’m not playing today” and he probably was quite happy.
Unfortunately for Carlisle, though, Austin Reaves decided to turn into Doncic against the Pacers, finishing with a career-high 45 points (14-26 FG) to go with seven rebounds, seven assists, and three steals.
Reaves powered the Lakers to a 124-117 win to get them to 31-19 on the season. Carlisle’s Pacers, meanwhile, dropped to 29-22 with the loss.
Charles Barkley Has Doubts Regarding The LeBron James-Luka Doncic Duo
One individual who isn’t too high on the James-Doncic duo is Charles Barkley. During an appearance on GameTime on NBA TV, Barkley explained why he doesn’t believe it’s going to be all smooth sailing for James and Doncic.
“This thing is not going to be smooth in LA with him and LeBron because both of them want the ball 100% of the time. Luka does not move without the ball. LeBron does not move without the ball.”
“There’s gonna be some serious growing pains when those two try to play together. Now, they’re both great players, don’t get me wrong, but LeBron wants the ball, and Luka definitely wants the ball. So it’s going to be very interesting how that works out.”
There are going to be some growing pains, but these two are now a bit more accustomed to playing without the ball. Doncic had been sharing ball-handling responsibilities with Kyrie Irving while James has been doing so with the likes of Austin Reaves. They might struggle a little bit at first but that’s about it.
We’re likely to see James and Doncic in action for the first time as teammates when the Lakers take on the Utah Jazz at Crypto.com Arena on Monday at 10:30 PM ET.
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