Luka Doncic has taken the ball handling responsibilities largely away from LeBron James, but the Lakers great doesn’t mind one bit. In fact, he’s actively encouraging it.
“In order for us to be the team, ultimately, we need to be, the ball needs to be in Luka’s hands,” James told reporters after LA beat the New Orleans 136-115 in the team’s seventh straight win.
Doncic has the highest usage rate at the Lakers (34.7%) and LeBron is more than happy to let the Slovenian superstar run point.
“I’m very comfortable playing off the ball,” James said. “Finding my spots, running the floor, getting outlet passes from Luka. Being on the backside of the defense is either being blitzed and pick and rolls or switched in pick and rolls track so many eyes and bodies I’ve been very blessed to be able to be adaptable to whatever team I’ve been on throughout my career, to be able to change and this is another instance.”
Knicks legend Carmelo Anthony, (who played for the Lakers with LeBron in 2021-22) is hyped about the new duo and spoke about how Luka has unlocked a whole new level of LeBron.
“Bron, I’ve never seen him as happy as he looks playing the game right now. They’re a lockdown defensive team right now, with Luka,” Anthony said on 7pm in Brooklyn.
“The roles are reversed now. He’s [LeBron] AD right now, and Luka is him. So now Bron knows, all I have to do is run the court, I’m gonna get a mismatch, if Luka throws it, I can go get it.”
“A lot of teams that LeBron had wasn’t willing to make sh*t work. We wasn’t willing to make the sh*t work when I was with the Lakers. Luka’s got the ball now. And this is the first time we’re seeing LeBron deferring to somebody with the ball. And he feels very comfortable with Luka being in control of that,” Anthony concluded.
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