Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic looked comfortable in a purple and gold uniform for maybe the first time against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday.
After he didn’t score more than 16 points in any one of his opening three contests with the team, he looked like his usual dominant self against maybe the hottest team in the league.
He nearly totaled a 32-point triple-double in the Lakers’ dominant win. Los Angeles head coach J.J. Redick has since made it clear that the Slovenian — rather than forward LeBron James or guard Austin Reaves — will be the one controlling the offense for the storied franchise going forward.
“I think Luka needs to be the guy that controls the offense,” Redick said. “And Bron and AR, because we’re gonna stagger everybody, they’re gonna have their times to be on the ball. But all three of those guys are very intelligent basketball players, and we can create mismatches. We can get teams in the blender.”
The rationale for running the offense through Doncic is evident. For one, he’s among the better facilitators in the NBA and has a real knack for setting his teammates up for scoring opportunities.
The point guard has averaged 8.2 assists per game for his NBA career and is dishing out 7.5 per contest this season across 26 games played with the Lakers and Dallas Mavericks.
James is certainly a great playmaker as well, as he has the fourth-most regular-season assists of any player in NBA history. But he’s also 40 years old, and the Lakers would be wise to keep his workload on that end of the floor in check.
Doncic is also probably at his best from a scoring standpoint with the ball in his hands. All but 89 of his 242 made field goals so far this season have been self-generated. He’s been assisted on just 36.8 percent of his baskets so far.
His isolation scoring and playmaking chops were on full display against the Nuggets. He shot 10-of-22 from the field and 4-of-9 from 3-point range while tying Reaves for a game-high seven assists in a win that snapped Denver’s nine-game winning streak.
Hopefully, Doncic can carry over his showing against the Nuggets into the next game on the Lakers’ 82-game schedule. He is slated to take on his former team in the Mavericks at Crypto.com Arena on Feb. 25. Fans should expect him to be extra motivated to play well in that contest after the Mavericks parted ways with him earlier in the month.
