LOS ANGELES \u2014 One of the main topics of discussion surrounding the Lakers during the offseason was how much more potent their offense could be with Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves at the helm.<\/p>\n
The Lakers showed flashes of offensive brilliance last season after Doncic made his debut for the team in mid-February<\/a>\u00a0after being traded from the Dallas Mavericks to Los Angeles earlier in the month<\/a>. But with Doncic having a summer to get his mind and body right<\/a>, James coming off a record-extending 21st All-NBA season<\/a>, Reaves having his first 20-point season<\/a> \u2013 in addition to the team\u2019s summer acquisitions and Rui Hachimura coming off a career-best season<\/a> \u2013 there was optimism the Lakers could have an even higher offensive ceiling after having an offseason to work on their chemistry.<\/p>\n It took nearly 20% of the season, with James being sidelined for the first 14 games of 2025-26 because of sciatica, but the Lakers offered a glimpse into how potent their offense can be when they\u2019re whole when James made his debut in Tuesday\u2019s 140-126 home win over the Utah Jazz<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI can fit in with anybody,\u201d James said. \u201cI don\u2019t even understand why that was a question. I can ride with anybody. So, just watching the guys in the first 14 games, I was just putting myself in position while I was watching the games and how I can help the team and how I can be successful to help those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t just the Lakers\u2019 scoring total and efficiency (59.5% shooting), both of which were season highs, that stood out against a defensively inept Jazz team that made scoring easier for them than it would be against most teams. But it was also the way they functioned, and how effortless at times their offensive possessions looked.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have two of the best passers to ever touch a basketball,\u201d Reaves said, referring to Doncic and James. \u201cAnd with them making the right read, I\u2019d say 90% of the time, you\u2019re gonna play advantage basketball. And at that point, the game should be pretty easy.\u201d<\/p>\n How did James, who had 11 points and 12 assists in the first game of his 23rd NBA season, fit into the Lakers\u2019 offense? And what elements did he add that they were lacking during his absence?<\/p>\n POSTUP OPPORTUNITIES<\/p>\n The Lakers entered Tuesday as one of the league\u2019s most efficient teams when playing out of the post, averaging 1.15 points per possession that ended with a direct shot, pass or turnover out of the area (the league\u2019s seventh-best mark).<\/p>\n They finished 4.4 possessions per game out of the post, with Doncic (1.8), Hachimura (1.5) and starting center Deandre Ayton (1.3) leading the way.<\/p>\n James, who has averaged at least 2.5 possession-ending post-ups per game in the previous six seasons, added additional layers in this area to a Lakers\u2019 offense that had significantly relied on pick and rolls orchestrated by Doncic and Reaves before Tuesday.<\/p>\n The Lakers finished at least seven possessions out of the post against the Jazz, with James leading the way \u2013 not counting possessions when Utah fouled or had a three-second violation, like it did on the opening possession of the second half.<\/p>\n With his 6-foot-9, 250-pound frame, James used his unique combination of size, skill and basketball IQ to back down typically smaller defenders in the post after Utah\u2019s defense switched. And James used the area to open scoring opportunities for himself and others.<\/p>\n James\u2019 final basket came off a post-up against Keyonte George after Reaves set a Rip screen (back screen) for James to get him matched up against the 6-4, 194-pound George in the middle of the paint midway through the third quarter.<\/p>\n His first assist to Ayton came after Jazz center Jusuf Nurkic shaded toward James on his post-up against George, with Ayton flashing just below the free-throw line so James could assist him on a 15-foot jumper.<\/p>\n \u201cJust sharing the court with him, it\u2019s special,\u201d Doncic said of James. \u201cHe sees things that other people can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n Ayton added: \u201cI\u2019m telling everybody that I\u2019m sure with some of these passes that he didn\u2019t even see me cutting. And just being in the right place at the right time, he\u2019s finding you right away with sharp passes. He\u2019s making your life easy.\u201d<\/p>\n Three of James\u2019 first four assists came after post-ups.<\/p>\n \u201cWe feel really comfortable with both LeBron and Luka in the post,\u201d Coach JJ Redick said. \u201cD.A. as a flasher to that restricted area is a good outlet for us because he\u2019s got such good touch. Know we got a lob to him in the first half when he was in the dunker. But think he brings another dynamic in our post game as like \u2013 we got the primary option, the guy with the ball, we got all our kick-out stuff, but then he brings that third option in that sort of mid-paint area.<\/p>\n \u201cHe does that on his rolls too, in the pocket, whether it\u2019s a blitz or whether it\u2019s drop coverage. But we\u2019re going to post those guys, we like having the ball with them, either in the post or at the elbow. They\u2019re good decision-makers, and they\u2019re going to generate good shots for us.\u201d<\/p>\n Three of LeBron James’ first four assists \u2013 and five of his 12 overall \u2013 came after LeBron postups. JJ Redick touched on what that can add to the Lakers’ offense:<\/p>\n \u2014 Khobi Price (@khobiprice.bsky.social)<\/a> 2025-11-19T08:07:13.076Z<\/a><\/p>\n TRANSITION PLAY<\/p>\n Tuesday\u2019s pace (106.5 possessions per 48 minutes) was the third-fastest game the Lakers have played so far this season.<\/p>\n Some of that was because of the pace the Jazz, one of the faster teams in the league, prefers to play.<\/p>\n But James\u2019 presence made the Lakers \u2013 who entered Tuesday No. 29 in transition possessions per game (16.8) \u2013 a more dynamic team in the open court.<\/p>\n The Lakers\u2019 18.4% transition frequency against the Jazz was their second-highest of the season, according to Cleaning The Glass.<\/p>\n Doncic\u2019s hit-ahead pass to James midway through the third quarter that led to James assisting Reaves on a layup is an example of the Lakers pushing the pace via passing. And James is still one of the more dynamic ball-handlers in open space, which he showcased when he drew a shooting foul late in the second quarter, or assisted Jake LaRavia on a corner 3-pointer in the first.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2014 One of the main topics of discussion surrounding the Lakers during the offseason was how…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421974,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3785],"tags":[7,423,300,185,368,6,66,422,427,3972],"class_list":{"0":"post-421973","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-utah-jazz","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-jazz","10":"tag-lakers","11":"tag-lebron-james","12":"tag-luka-doncic","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-utah","16":"tag-utah-jazz","17":"tag-utahjazz"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115579123493504689","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}