Luka Doncic is entering this Lakers season with a different kind of spotlight on him, and he says one part of his game has come a long way.
Last year, Doncic had to manage a heavy off-court burden while still producing at a high level. He said the distance from his daughters made the season especially tough, and he made it clear how difficult that stretch was for him.
“I didn’t see them almost the whole season. Yea I can’t go another season like that.
You wanna spend time with your kids everyday. So last season was pretty hard.
I saw them for 5 days in the whole season which is impossible to do. But you know I had to focus on basketball," Doncic said.
Now, with a fresh start in Los Angeles and his personal situation more settled for the moment, the Lakers are leaning heavily on him as the face of the franchise. The team spent the summer building around him, and The Athletic’s Dan Woike laid out the approach this way: “The Lakers prioritized building around Luka Dončić this summer, getting him his center in Walker Kessler, adding youth and athleticism and finding players who can shoot and attack closeouts. It’s a team built around a star, but are they (or is he) good enough to get them to the top of the West," The Athletic’s Dan Woike wrote.
Offense has never been the question with Doncic. What he’s pointing to now is a real jump on the other end, where he believes he has taken a meaningful step.
“Obviously, I’m not the best defender in the NBA, but I think this year I really took a step forward. Obviously, people are going to talk what they want to talk [about] me. ...
But I know, and my team knows, that I think I’m better this year. And that helps the whole team, I think,” Doncic said.
That defensive growth is exactly what the Lakers have been pushing for as they try to raise the team’s overall level. Since arriving in Los Angeles, Doncic has shown improvement on that side of the floor, and the coaching staff has made it a point of emphasis. If he keeps trending that way, it gives the Lakers a better chance to keep opponents from picking on him and makes him even more dangerous as a two-way force.
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Kellerman saw James departure as the opening that let Luka Doncic settle in as the clear leader, while Paul pushed back on the idea that James leaving was the key variable. He pointed instead to the Lakers improved defense and the way the roster has come together, leaving the larger question hanging over a team that has started to look comfortable without the player who defined it for so long. [Read more 🡒]