Lakers tactical adjustments for the new season? Doncic and Xiaoli take over the offense, James may become an enhanced version to pursue his dream

Translator's Note: The original article was published on CBS. The data in the article are as of the time of the original article (October 27, local time). The dates and times involved are all local time.

With 3 minutes and 05 seconds left in Friday's victory over the Timberwolves, LeBron James was quite depressed after Luka Doncic missed a free throw. That meant Doncic's second free throw only brought his score to 49 points, and with the game a foregone conclusion, he was subbed off before scoring his 50th point. In the NBA, 50 points in a single game is a rare and special achievement. This happened only 18 times last season. When Doncic fell short, the Lakers may have thought that it would be a long time before a player hits 50 points next time.

But this time the wait only lasted two days.

In Sunday's game against the Kings, despite the absence of nearly 60% of the Lakers' total salary, Austin Reeves still had the best game of his career. He scored 51 points, 11 rebounds, and 9 assists, helping the team gain a much-needed victory 127-120.

Last season, only one team (the Nuggets) had multiple players score 50 points in a game. The Lakers were just one free throw away from achieving this achievement in their first three games. Additionally, Doncic scored 43 points in their season opener.

These performances are not entirely accidental. In the opener, Reeves scored 26 points and 25 points against the Timberwolves, when he was only Doncic's deputy. Since February of last season, he has averaged close to 23 points per game and has been steadily improving as a pro. In four NBA seasons, his scoring average increased from 7.3 points to 13 points to 15.9 points to 20.2 points per game.

His assist numbers have surged in a similar fashion. After three games, he sent out 29 assists. Of course, we're talking about an extremely small sample size through the 2025-26 season, and it's obvious that these numbers are skewed by the injuries the Lakers have suffered. But looking at the trajectory of Reeves' entire career, it's a logical progression. He looks ready to compete for an All-Star spot. Doncic is an MVP candidate and his credentials speak for themselves. It is no exaggeration to say that the Lakers may have the strongest offensive backcourt combination in the NBA.

The above is the performance of healthy players. Now, we have to talk about the player who has yet to return.

It is expected that James, who is recovering from sciatica, will make his season debut in mid-November. However, judging from historical performance, James likes to be full of firepower as soon as he comes back. Last season, when he returned from his longest absence (seven games in March), he played 31 minutes and took 16 shots. James always returns with full blood. The Lakers may not give him a running-in period to slowly adapt. They may need to plan his role ahead of time.

This is where things start to get complicated. James' career usage rate ranks sixth in NBA history. In his 22-season NBA career, he led the team in usage rate for 19 seasons, and when he was not first, he gave way to Hall of Fame players: Dwyane Wade in 2011, Kyrie Irving in 2017, and Doncic last season. Judging from historical performance, this has always been the right approach. If you have LeBron James on your team, why would you let someone else hold the ball?

This Lakers team provides a compelling reason for this adjustment in play style. First, James will turn 41 in December. Aside from LeBron James, how many players in their 40s have you seen dominate the ball in a successful NBA offense? After losing weight, Luka looked simply unstoppable. Reeves' performance wasn't much different. That was a reasonable expectation heading into the season, as the value they provide is almost entirely focused on the offensive side of the ball.

But this is not the case with James. LeBron is so good with the ball that we often overlook how great he is in other ways. If he wants to be a beefed-up Draymond Green, he'll have no problem doing that. He's a top-notch screener and passer, and when he wants to be a lethal defender, he's more than capable of being that -- at least in the short term. The Lakers need these qualities more than offense with the ball. After all, Doncic and Reeves seem to have mastered this particular area of ​​ball-handling offense.

Therefore, the best version of this Lakers team is to let James take a back seat slightly on the offensive end. He's still LeBron James, he's still scoring 18-20 points a night because he's still a nightmare for any opponent to defend against. But more of those points will likely come from transition offense and spot-up shooting, rather than creating opportunities through more direct pick-and-rolls. James himself admitted this to a certain extent.

"I spent a lot of time working on my catch-and-shoot three-pointers," James said at media day, "understanding how to get the most out of my movement when I'm not holding the ball. Obviously, Luka and AR (Austin Lee) Jeff) will have a lot of time to handle the ball. We have a lot of players who can handle the ball, so how can I be efficient on a team that doesn't require me to handle the ball as much?"

JJ Redick has been talking about this even before the Doncic trade.

"LeBron is one of the smartest players, and I think you can use him as a screener and let him get the ball in a specific position to play the role of an organizer and a scorer at the same time. That's what I call off-ball play." Redick explained on the Lowe Post podcast in September 2024.

has been laying the groundwork for this transformation for some time.. James rarely took catch-and-shoot three-pointers when he was with the Heat or Cavaliers, but after he signed with the Lakers, his volume increased significantly. This number peaked in 2022 and 2023, when he took up to 3.5 such three-pointers per game to adjust to Russell Westbrook. That number dropped in subsequent seasons, but his 2.9 shots per game last season were still significantly higher than any season before he joined the Lakers in the data-tracking era. Considering he shot 42% from the field a year ago, if he's truly ready to make that adjustment, he's more than capable of making it.

But here’s the problem. LeBron James has played his own way for a long time, so really adapting to a different style of basketball will be a challenge. When Darwin Hamm tried to limit his playing time in the 2023-24 season to protect his body, James played only 29 minutes in the opener. However, this attempt did not last long, as his playing time returned to 35 minutes two days later, and he averaged 35.3 minutes per game throughout the season. James can play any role imaginable, adapt to any style imaginable...it's always been harder for him to embrace change.

That's understandable when you're considered the greatest of all time, but this will be one of the keys to the Lakers' season. When James exercised his contract option this offseason, he made it clear he wanted to compete for a championship in the twilight of his career. The best way for the Lakers to achieve this is to let Doncic and Reeves run the offense while James takes care of what they can't do.

The offensive performance of Doncic and Reeves is exceeding the team's expectations. But they will never be high-level defenders, and most of their offensive value must come through running the ball. They have limitations. Not so with James. He can do just about anything, even if he doesn't do it with the same frequency or aggressiveness as he once did. So, with the rise of his younger teammates, the key for him this season will be adjusting his role to do things that his younger teammates can't.

Author: Sam Quinn

Translator: GWayNe