The Lakers are leaning hard into a familiar idea: build around Luka Doncic the way Dallas did in 2024 and trust the formula to hold up. That’s the shape of the roster Los Angeles has been chasing in free agency, and it’s also the reason the conversation around this team keeps circling back to one question - is “Dallas Mavs 2.0” actually good enough?
Chris Mannix put the blueprint plainly: "They just really want to make Dallas 2.0," Mannix said. "I think they feel they can succeed with a backcourt of Luka and Austin Reaves, even though there are defensive challenges there. They believe they can succeed with those two guys if they get the right type of players in that front court."
Los Angeles attacked the first couple of days of free agency with that exact idea in mind. The problem is that copying a roster is one thing. Copying a title contender is another.
The backcourt is where the Lakers are betting biggest, and where the comparison gets tricky. Doncic and Austin Reaves give them shot creation, playmaking and enough offensive punch to make defenses work.
Reaves was excellent last season, putting up 21.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.1 assists. He’s a real second option and one of the league’s best complementary scorers.
But Kyrie Irving was operating on a different level during Dallas’ run. He averaged 24.7 points, 5.0 assists and 4.8 rebounds on 49.7% shooting in the 2023-24 regular season, then kept that exact scoring pace through the Mavericks’ trip to the NBA Finals.
Reaves is a strong player. Irving was the kind of second star who can carry a playoff run that deep.
That gap matters.
On the wing, the Lakers still have work to do. Dallas had Derrick Jones Jr. taking on the toughest perimeter assignment every night in 2024, and Mannix noted that Los Angeles needs players in the mold of Dorian Finney-Smith and PJ Washington to handle that job.
Right now, the Lakers don’t have that piece. It’s the clearest hole on the roster.
The frontcourt is where the Lakers made their loudest move. Walker Kessler is now the biggest offseason addition after Los Angeles acquired him from Utah in a sign-and-trade worth four years and $130 million.
The deal also sent unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, plus first-round swaps in 2028 and 2030. Kessler missed most of last season with a shoulder injury, but when he’s right, he gives a team elite rim protection and lob finishing.
That’s the kind of center Doncic can use. Dallas had Dereck Lively II, and also leaned on Daniel Gafford, who Mannix pointed to as another center type that fits next to Doncic. The Lakers have Kessler, but they do not have the same frontcourt depth that Dallas had.
The closest match between the two teams may be at power forward. Sandro Mamukelashvili averaged 11.2 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists while shooting 38.9% from 3-point range for Toronto last season.
PJ Washington, by comparison, posted 14.2 points and 7.0 rebounds. Mamukelashvili gives more spacing.
Washington brings more size and physicality. It’s the most balanced positional comparison in the whole exercise.
The bench is where the Lakers start to look even more like that 2024 Dallas group. Quentin Grimes is the Josh Green type: a two-way wing who can defend and shoot. Grimes averaged 13.4 points last season and signed a four-year, $60 million contract after returning to Los Angeles.
Jaden Hardy is back with Doncic after coming over in the Deandre Ayton trade. He averaged a career-high 9.2 points and shot 39.7% from 3-point range last season. His role was tiny during the 2024 Finals run, but he did have some big moments in the Western Conference Finals against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Jarred Vanderbilt fills the Maxi Kleber lane as a defensive frontcourt player. Collin Sexton slides into the Dante Exum role as a scoring reserve after signing a two-year, $19 million deal. He averaged 15.4 points while shooting 40.1% from 3-point range last season.
So yes, the resemblance is real. The Lakers’ depth chart does echo Dallas’ 2024 bench, and the roster construction clearly follows the same logic.
But that’s also where the warning sign lives. The 2024 Mavericks did not win the championship.
Boston beat Dallas in five games, and the series never really tilted in the Mavericks’ favor. Rebuilding that team in 2026-27 means aiming at a standard that already fell short once.
And the bar around them is higher now. Oklahoma City has already won a championship the year after losing to Dallas in 2024.
San Antonio reached the NBA Finals. Every contender beneath them has improved this offseason.
That’s the challenge for the Lakers. They can build Dallas 2.0 all they want. The real question is whether that version can do what the first one couldn’t.
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