Could Luka Dončić Be The Key To Unlocking The Lakers’ Starting Lineup?

Once again, you guys delivered with a whole slew of questions for our mailbag covering a wide variety of subjects. So much so, in fact, that we’ve split it up into two parts once again.

There were a lot of questions about JJ Redick, the scheme the Lakers will run and things more or less related to coaching, which we’ll save for a piece tomorrow. Today, let’s tackle the other questions about Luka Dončić, Walker Kessler, the team’s offseason and potential breakout candidates.

It has certainly been interesting that the Lakers have continually not been linked to any power forwards despite having a glaring hole in that position on paper. In fact, they’ve gone out of their way to push back against a potential option in PJ Washington.

Could we be looking at it wrong, then? Maybe the team is focusing on Luka as a forward rather than a guard on defense, which could make things fall in place. It would resemble the 2019-20 Lakers, where LeBron was the point guard offensively and the four defensively.

Luka is obviously not a great point of attack defender, so moving him far away from that situation makes sense. He’s a good rebounder and putting him near the basket to grab and go would also have benefits.

But, as noted, the fact the team is targeting a wing and not a power forward seems to be one of the biggest indications of the team’s mindset.

For the first question, I think that’s something that hasn’t been discussed enough. Particularly when it comes to Walker Kessler, I think playing alongside an elite pick-and-roll ballhandler will be a huge boost. Even Austin Reaves is a great pick-and-roll guard, too. But we’ll talk about Kessler more shortly.

As you noted, though, Luka makes guys around him better. The Lakers seem to be banking on that as none of their signings were high-profile players. It’s a fair bet to make because Luka does make players better.

LA targeted some underutilized players like Sandro Mamukelashvili and Quentin Grimes with hopes of them increasing production. Luka certainly played a role in that calculation. Projecting how good they’ll be, though? That’s tough. I’m really intrigued by someone like Grimes in a bigger role.

As for the second question, I won’t give a player-by-player breakdown, but the Lakers definitely skewed more toward offense in free agency. They moved away Marcus Smart, their best perimeter defender last year, but did bring in Kessler, who should be an above average rim protector.

Outside of that, none of the players who departed or were signed are known for their defense. The Lakers seem more focused on building an elite offense.

Well, I can tell you that if the end goal is getting pundits to admit they were wrong, it’s a fruitless task.

Him not being an All-Star is something that was mentioned quite a bit after the trade, but being named an All-Star is a bit obvious as a way to prove doubters wrong.

I think being a defensive anchor for a contending team would go a long way in that. If the team is a top-10 defense and Kessler is available for at least 65 games, that would go some way in proving LA right.

I don’t look too much toward the offense because I think Luka can turn just about any serviceable big man into a viable threat in the pick and roll and Kessler is much more than that.

I was pretty surprised at how little the Lakers valued a lot of the role players from last year’s team. For example, given how highly they talked about him in the exit interview, I thought it was a certainty Luke Kennard would be back.

I would say I’m surprised they let Marcus Smart leave based purely on the contract he signed. But perhaps the team wasn’t ready to commit multiple years to him considering how banged up he is. They also had a pretty clear mission of getting younger.

That’s also why it was surprising they didn’t bring back Rui. I was a fan of him personally and would have liked for them to bring him back, but I also acknowledge he’s a player with very clear strengths and very clear weaknesses. But it would have definitely been interesting to see him in the starting lineup not alongside LeBron as the pair always felt a little redundant.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.