For the first time since the 2017-18 NBA season, the bulk of the Los Angeles Lakers‘ fortunes do not rest on the shoulders of LeBron James. Instead, that burden has been shifted over to the 26-year-old Luka Doncic, who recently signed a three-year contract extension to remain with the franchise that traded for him in early February.
There are some credible questions about whether Doncic, James and Austin Reaves will coalesce on offense. While James has shown a willingness and ability to play effectively off the ball, plenty feel that the skill sets of Doncic and Reaves are too redundant for them to work well together on the court at the same time.
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Lakers insider Anthony Irwin wrote that Doncic is working on a certain aspect of his game in order to alleviate that concern. According to him, Doncic is working on his ability to hit outside shots off passes from teammates.
“Another key development over the summer has been the work Doncic has put in to make himself more effective without the basketball,” Irwin wrote. “Sources close to the Lakers say he has focused on becoming more comfortable shooting off the catch. He has also been in touch with coaches (Greg St. Jean is with him for EuroBasket, as an example) consistently this offseason to understand how they envision him impacting the game when LeBron James or Austin Reaves has the ball.”
As an example, when James took his talents to the Miami Heat in 2010, he and Dwyane Wade didn’t fit very well during their first season together. It was only when Wade took a backseat prior to the following campaign and let James be Miami’s main decision-maker that the team truly took off.
Doncic, James and Reaves are all above-average 3-point shooters, which means that this type of setup could work, at least conceptually. The Lakers will have a full training camp with Doncic in the fold, which will also make things easier on them, as opposed to last season, when they had to build chemistry with him on the fly as they chased a playoff spot in the competitive Western Conference.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Insider: Luka Doncic has been working on surprising aspect of his game