After missing the Lakers‘ first two preseason games, Luka Doncic will play in two of the last four, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Coach JJ Redick announced the plan on Saturday, but he didn’t specify when Doncic will be active and said it hasn’t been determined if he’ll suit up for Sunday’s matchup with Golden State. L.A. will also face Phoenix on Tuesday, Dallas on Wednesday and Sacramento on Friday.
Doncic has been given a reduced workload in practice to allow him to recover from an intense summer representing Slovenia at EuroBasket. He was a full participant during Saturday’s session.
“I had (the) national team,” Doncic said. “Playing one month or something of basketball (for Slovenia). Obviously it’s a long season ahead, so just because of that.”
The Lakers dropped their first two preseason contests while using a modified lineup because Doncic and LeBron James were unavailable.
There’s more from Los Angeles:
- Doncic won’t go into games with the feeling that he has to do more while James recovers from sciatica, which is expected to sideline him for at least three to four weeks, McMenamin states in the same piece. “It’s a big change,” Doncic said of having to play without James. “He’s a great player. He can help us a lot. But at the end of the day, our mentality needs to be ‘next man up.’ We got a group of guys that have been practicing and hopefully LeBron can join us as soon as possible. We are going to obviously need him. But our mentality has got to be ‘next man up.'”
- James’ absence is presenting a huge challenge for Redick in putting together a starting lineup, McMenamin adds. Doncic, Austin Reaves and Deandre Ayton are definite starters heading into the season, but the other two spots are up for grabs. Power forward Rui Hachimura started 57 of the 59 games he played last season, but Jarred Vanderbilt started the first two preseason contests and is fully healthy for the first time in two years. Free agent additions Jake LaRavia and Marcus Smart could contend for the other starting role, depending on whether Redick wants to emphasize offense or defense against a given opponent.
- Smart will make his preseason debut on Sunday after sitting out the first two games with Achilles tendinopathy, according to Khobi Price of The Orange County Register. Reaves, who played in the opener but missed the second game, is also expected to be available.
Here is my Lakers roster notes/player quick review (I left out the rookies because too much volatility, too hard to predict):
Luka: elite top 5, MVP contender, we all know he’s in his prime too
Lebron: very old and very injured. He’s at the point where something like a back injury could end his career. Very low chance of being a meaningful player this season
Reaves: maybe the best 2way sign of all-time. Underrated and extremely good
Hachimura: the definition of mid. Not a “good” player in this league. Imagine 2024 era Kuminga, but worse
Ayton: a little better than average, slightly north of mid, but also made of glass
Vincent: one of the worst regular players in the NBA. Genuinely terrible player. Stats back it up
Smart: another massively overrated player. At no point did he ever clear Draymond defensively. The worst, most undeserving DPOY ever. He is a PG for crying out loud. Even in his prime he was barely good. Also made of glass. Glad he isn’t on my team
LaRavia: had a decent season last year averaging 20 MPG. Nice buy low option. If he keeps ascending, Lakers might have got a bargain, but he is no sure bet to keep improving, huge year for him tbh
Vanderbilt: another absolutely terrible player. Lakers having multiple “worst in the league” contenders on the same roster speaks volumes on their ceiling
Hayes: not a terrible role player, but can he be trusted with over 20 MPG? Still developing, I will reserve judgement as he is a breakout candidate
Bronny: cmon. “Euro league bench player wins NBA job due to father”. We all know the deal here. Moving on…
Knecht: another development piece. Played much worse after trade rumors. Still has a decent ceiling to be a regular rotation piece
James sitting out will be a great opportunity for Rui, Vando and LaRavia getting more minutes and more shots. Even Knecht might get some playing time with LeBron out.
Hopefully, Bron comes back healthy in a month or two, and the Nove mentioned players will have built up some confidence, which will bode well for the Lakers in the playoffs.
What team does better next season, GSW or Lakers?
Both are old and seemingly on their last legs on being considered contenders but both don’t exactly have strong enough rosters in comparison to some of the other teams in the league.
Luka Bron Reaves with help from Smart Vando Rui Ayton or Curry Butler Green with help from Kuminga Heild Horford and what not
They both finish with win totals in the high forties and their playoff fates will be hugely health reliant. If either one makes it out of the West it will be because they stayed healthy while other teams suffered key injuries. I won’t be shocked if Curry or LeBron add to their ring totals this year…and in that coin toss I will pick the Warriors
I don’t see either team having a chance at winning a chip unless there is a trade or two.
Warriors could do that with Kuminga but until that happens then I don’t rate their chances.
As for the Lakers, I think they have many issues, mainly a lack of defence. Luka Reaves Bron and Ayton don’t offer much and when you then have Smart and Vando in there for their defence they offer nothing on offence.
They need more two way guys and better cohesion. Rui gets a lot of smack from people but he plays his role perfectly. Over 50% from the field and over 40% on 3, does well on defence and can play either forward spot.
“Both are old and seemingly on their last legs of being considered contenders”
GSW are old.
LAL are not. Other than LeBron, they have only 2 players older than 30 – Smart and Kleber. In a potential Doncic, Reaves, Hachimura, Ayton, Vanderbilt line-up, the oldest player is 27.
That line-up has the same average age as Strus, Donovan Mitchell, Jarrett Allen, Mobley, Garland team.
Carmelo, Russ, Dwight, Rondo, Ariza, DeAndre Jordan are not in Los Angeles anymore. That team was old in 2022.
25-26 Lakers are not.
If Lakers meets the Warriors, i’d favor the Lakers.
Luka is only 26 and is now in basketball shape. Warriors does not have the length that the wolves have. It will be a challenge for them to contain him like the wolves did.
The Lakers are the 6 th youngest team outside of Lebron , 11th if you count him
They have 1 player other than lebron over 30 Smart (31) that will see the floor for more than double digit mins per game this year
It’s not even a lazy take it’s just flat out incorrect . You didn’t think this one out very well
Not a good sign to load manage Luka already. Maybe an injury prone player shouldn’t beat himself up just weeks before the NBA season.
The best thing the Lakers can do is trade Lebron. They won’t, but they need to. Smart, Luka, Reaves, Rui and Ayton could be a good lineup if everyone is running the floor.
LeBron has a no-trade clause. It’s one of the reasons he was always signing 1+1 with a player option.
He’s not approving any trade. He wants to have a never-traded label.
Well they messed that up big time
Peter, he wants to have a “never traded” label until it comes to money.
To get money from his desired team, he had to be traded there.
He could not just sign with the Heat outright. It would’ve hurt his wallet so I guess he didn’t want the never traded label that bad.
It’s like everyone talking about Jonathan Kuminga’s recent “principles.” While his principles meant taking 8 million, but taking the money meant 50 million.
Jebron Lames!