During the first part of the 2025-26 NBA season, the Los Angeles Lakers felt like they were on top of the world. The team got off to a scorching start, with Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves forming one of the best offensive duos in the league. It would only get even better once LeBron James returned to the court.
Instead, the narrative quickly shifted to James ruining Doncic and Reaves’ chemistry. With another dominant ball-handler on the court, there were simply too many mouths to feed for the Lakers. Los Angeles now sits at 34-24, having lost three straight and five of its last seven. The team is simply not gelling like it did at the beginning of the season, and that has fans pointing the finger at James.
As it turns out, the conversation surrounding the Lakers isn’t as easy as simply saying the team plays better without James. NBA podcaster Jason Timpf explored that idea and tried to get to the bottom of the Lakers’ problems in a recent episode.
Lakers are actually playing better during LeBron James lineups – without Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves
Timpf makes it clear that the team’s lineups with Doncic and Reaves on the court without James were crushing at the start of the season, but it was mostly due to a soft schedule. That has changed significantly since Reaves returned from injury at the start of February. It’s been much more inconsistent.
More surprisingly, the lineups with only James on the court – of those three – have been among the best rotations for the Lakers. Those James lineups sans Doncic and Reaves have been outscoring teams by almost 6.5 points per 100 possessions.
Timpf admits the data doesn’t tell the whole story, though. When all three are on the court, James simply isn’t the type of player Doncic and Reaves need to be paired with – they need a great catch-and-shoot scorer. James isn’t that guy, as he excels with the ball in his hands, running the offense.
Head coach JJ Redick has plenty to figure out with the NBA Playoffs nearing. Given that it’s James’ last year in Los Angeles, most likely, Redick might just ride him until the very end regardless of what the data shows.
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