Never-before-seen statements from LeBron James: “Ok, I’ve met my match at initiating offense

The Los Angeles Lakers have come into a rich vein of form since pairing LeBron James with Luka Doncic, the All-Star duo quickly allaying fears they would struggle to play together.

LeBron and Doncic spark Lakers upturn

After recording a comfortable win over the Utah Jazz on Doncic’s debut, JJ Redick’s team then lost back-to-back games against the same opponent and the Charlotte Hornets, the Slovenian only featuring against the latter. However, they have since gone on a seven-game winning streak, taking them up into second place in the Western Conference and to within touching distance of the postseason.

So far, the pair have proved doubters, including former NBA All-Star turned analyst Charles Barkley, wrong. James has done his utmost to work around his new teammate, who has the passing ability to bring the very best out of the 40-year-old.

That appears to be how things are working out, with LeBron bagging over 30 points in three of their last seven games together, taking him past the 50,000-point mark in his NBA career.

Doncic “does the same stuff and some of it better”

According to Dan Woike, the Lakers beat writer for the Los Angeles Times, James has realized, for the first time as a professional, he is playing alongside somebody who is just as good as he is at certain elements of the sport, and potentially even better at others.

“This [with Doncic] is a little bit of LeBron saying, OK, I’ve met my equal at initiating offense.

“Being around him now, basically every day since he’s been to Los Angeles by and large, I’ve never heard him say that somebody is better than him at stuff. Like that’s just not how he’s built.

“He said, Luka Doncic does the same stuff as me and some of it better. And I think at this stage in his career, having somebody who can do that, it does sort of shift into Olympics LeBron, as I call it.

“Like the version of him we saw in Paris, where you’re controlling the game, but maybe you don’t have the ball all the time.”

The Lakers are going from strength to strength as they look to build on their 2023/24 NBA Cup win. The Californians have won only one NBA Championship since 2012 but have dragged themselves back into contention by combining two generational talents.

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