The Los Angeles Lakers are on pace to enter the 2025 NBA Playoffs with a powerful flow of momentum coursing through their locker room. They’ve already increased their win total over the 2023-24 campaign and are now just two wins shy of their first 50-win season since 2019-20.
There’s still work to be done for Los Angeles to clinch its spot in the playoffs, but franchise player Luka Doncic has the necessary attributes to close out a successful season.
Lakers head coach JJ Redick spoke about what makes Doncic great following the team’s most impressive win of the season. It went on the road and dominated the squad with the best record in the NBA, walking away with a 126-99 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Following the win, Redick praised Doncic for how much he delights in taking on the challenge and burden of going up against a team’s best defender on a nightly basis.
Per Jovan Buha of The Athletic:
“I think he relishes the challenge,” Redick said of Dončić. “You’re gonna get the best defender every night. You’re gonna get all the different coverages every night when you’re him. … Sometimes great players can get bored with that process, and so when you get like the fully engaged star in a big-time game, some special things can happen. And Luka did some special things like tonight.”
Fearless players come in all shapes and sizes, but few are as effective when embracing that mentality as the Lakers’ new franchise player.
JJ Redick heralds Luka Doncic for embracing burden of No. 1 player
Doncic finished the win over Oklahoma City with 30 points, seven rebounds, six assists, two steals, and just two turnovers committed. He shot 11-of-20 from the field and 5-of-11 from beyond the arc, bending the Thunder’s defense to his will.
More importantly, Doncic took over against some of the best defensive players in the NBA, including former Lakers standout Alex Caruso and Defensive Player of the Year candidate Luguenz Dort.
Great players are going to do what they do no matter who they face, but top-tier defenders are paid good money for a reason. Caruso and Dort, for instance, have been making life miserable for All-Stars for years on end, and they now have the luxury of supporting one another.
World-class scorers always seem to find a way, however, and Doncic has erased all doubt about his status as that type of player.
Doncic won the 2023-24 scoring title by averaging an absurd 33.9 points per game on .487/.382/.786 shooting. It was the 18th-highest single-season scoring average in NBA history, as well as the sixth-highest mark since 1980.
It was yet another feather in the cap for Doncic, who also boasts the third-highest career scoring average in Association history behind only Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain.
With a scorer of that caliber leading the charge, the Lakers now have every reason to believe they can defeat any team they encounter. It certainly doesn’t hurt that Doncic is flanked by Austin Reaves and the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, LeBron James, but when all else fails, Los Angeles can trust its 26-year-old superstar to do what he does against any caliber of defender.
It may seem like an oversimplification of how teams can contend, but considering Doncic led the Dallas Mavericks to the 2024 NBA Finals, it’s safe to tie the Lakers’ boat to his greatness.
