NBA Executive Believes Lakers Got More Than Just Luka Doncic in Blockbuster Trade

The Lakers are really happy with what they have gotten from Doncic so far, but they have gotten even more than they expected.

Feb 28, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) and guard Luka Doncic (77) react after a play during the fourth quarter against the LA Clippers at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jason Parkhurst-Imagn Images | Jason Parkhurst-Imagn Images

Trading for Luka Doncic is the craziest thing that an NBA team has been able to do this season. The Los Angeles Lakers got him in exchange for Anthony Davis and Max Christie.

Doncic is one of the best players in the entire league. He is a top-three player in the NBA, so adding him has been a really good thing for the Lakers.

Obviously, adding a top-three player into the league is going to make a team better. Doncic has finally started to play like he did when he was in Dallas, and the numbers are starting to get back to normal.

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Trading for Doncic is one thing. But Doncic adds something to the roster that can't really be quantified. Adding him to the roster has been great for LeBron James.

NBA executives believe that the trade has given the Lakers a more engaged James. The Lakers now have allowed James to rest a little bit more since he doesn't have to be on the ball all of the time.

That, in turn, has allowed him to be more engaged when it comes to being involved on both ends of the court. Before Doncic got to LA, James had started checking out on defense.

Now that he has more energy for defense due to a lessened load providing playmaking for everyone else, he can roam around on defense a little more.

The Lakers have been able to make the pairing of Doncic and James work. That was the biggest concern that they had when they made the trade.

They wanted to make sure that the two players were going to be able to work well together offensively. Now that enough time has passed, it's clear that they can.

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James continues to play really well at the age of 40. Adding Doncic into the fold makes it more likely that James can have big numbers more often because he doesn't have to put them up every single night for the team to win.

Since he's come to Los Angeles, Doncic is averaging 23.8 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 8.1 assists per game.

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