Welcome back to the Lakers newsletter, where I need a recovery ice bath after all that travel.
The Lakers went 3-2 during an uneven trip that ended on a high note with back-to-back wins in New Orleans and Milwaukee. But after getting thrashed by Oklahoma City in Game 3 of the five-game trip, Marcus Smart said the team was starting to show its fatigue on the road. After packing, repacking and already reaching the next level of hotel loyalty status less than a month into the season, I can relate.
But, similiar to my favorite colleague Brad Turner picking up the travel slack, the Lakers also have reinforcements.
LeBron James is back. Now what?
Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic established themselves as one of the league’s most dynamic duos while powering the shorthanded Lakers to a 10-4 record. With LeBron James officially back on the Lakers’ practice court, he could make this three a real party.
“I’m a ball player,” James said Monday after his first full practice with the team this year. “… There’s not one team, not one club in the world that I cannot fit in and play for. I can do everything on the floor. So whatever this team needs me to do, I can do it when I’m back to myself.”
Despite the encouraging start that has the team fourth in the West, the Lakers are not modern basketball’s statistical darling. They play slowly (19th in pace), take the fourth-fewest three-pointers in the league while making the second-worst percentage and have the third-most turnovers per game. James, who still stopped short of saying he is pain-free from right sciatica, is unlikely to be an immediate solution to any of those problems.
But he is still the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.
“It’s LeBron,” Reaves said. “Just his presence and his ability is going to lift the team.”
The team joked during the film session that it got a new player Monday. James introduced himself to his teammates. Reaves and Doncic have become the favorite “bromance” of some niche NBA social media circles, and the Lakers’ chemistry was one of the key talking points from its early season success. Players joke on the bench, trash talk each other in Instagram comments and Doncic’s post-practice half-court shooting competition has expanded to include at least three other teammates.
James observed all the good vibes from afar. He sent congratulatory texts after wins and encouraging texts after losses, but returning Monday felt like “a kid going to a new school again.” He knows fitting with the team will have to come organically.
“He has the ability to lift everybody’s day,” Reaves said. “All these guys grew up loving him. So it’s good to get his voice back in the room and obviously the IQ speaks for itself, as well.”
When asked of what he saw from the team while sidelined, James rattled off a long list of observations. He loved the ball movement. He noted Deandre Ayton’s ability to anchor the back line and commended the 7-foot center as “one of the best screen setters” in the league. James shouted out the 25 critical minutes from Maxi Kleber in the win over Milwaukee, the contributions of Jake LaRavia, Rui Hachimura and Marcus Smart and the way younger players such as Nick Smith Jr. and Bronny James chipped in when the team was shorthanded against Portland on the second night of a back-to-back.
And he loved the dominance from Doncic and Reaves.
Doncic is leading the league in scoring with 34.4 points per game. He’s getting blitzed almost every time he crosses midcourt and still orchestrating an offense that is second in field-goal percentage (50.4).
Reaves is having a career year: 28.3 points, 8.2 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals are all career-bests. Of course with James out, Reaves’ usage rate is also at an all-time high.
When asked how he expects coverages to change for him with James back, Reaves shrugged. It’ll at least make his life easier, he said, to have who he calls “the greatest player to ever touch a basketball” back on the court.
“I don’t expect it to be perfect,” coach JJ Redick said. “But I also don’t expect it to be like, ‘Oh, these guys have never seen each other and met each other and don’t know each other’s name.’ They know what each of them bring.”
Last year, the Doncic-James-Reaves trio had an offensive rating of 117.8 points per 100 possessions. This year, the Lakers have a 121.6 offensive rating when Doncic and Reaves are on the floor together, the team’s highest mark for any two-man combination of starters.
Redick expects James’ presence will shake things up. He will command roughly 35 minutes when he is healthy, which will naturally disrupt the rotation and rhythm of his teammates. This will take some trial and error.
“There are some little formula of things you got to add,” Redick said. “If you put too much cinnamon in there, cookie’s not that good.”
Just let the Lakers cook.
The rookie will remember his first
Adou Thiero dunks over Milwaukee’s Andre Jackson Jr.
(Morry Gash / Associated Press)
Adou Thiero fought to get back on the court and make his NBA debut. It was only right that his teammates would fight for him to commemorate the moment.
After the second-round pick scored four points in his first NBA action Saturday, including an emphatic two-handed dunk in the final minute of the win, Jarred Vanderbilt made sure to grab the game ball. He clutched it tightly as referee Pat Fraher tried to take it back. LaRavia and Doncic soon joined for backup, explaining they wanted to keep it for Thiero.
Eventually, it was Giannis Antetokounmpo who took the ball back from a Bucks staffer and handed it to Doncic, who wanted to deliver the meaningful memento to the Lakers’ rookie.
“I think he can be a great player,” Doncic told reporters. “He’s physical. He can jump out of the gym. And, you know, he’s a fighter.”
Redick and the coaching staff were mindful that the situation could have been difficult for Thiero. He didn’t get a preseason or a training camp. The rookie was coming off an injury and playing in the first half while making his NBA debut.
But Thiero made a good first impression.
He scrambled for an offensive rebound that led to a three-pointer from Kleber in the first quarter. He played a quick two-minute stint in the first half then returned in mop-up duty during the fourth quarter, scoring his first points on two made free throws that had the Lakers on their feet celebrating.
Then his two-handed dunk in transition sent the Lakers’ bench into pandemonium.
“Coming down and seeing everybody flexing all over the bench,” Thiero said, “it was just a good feeling for everybody to be happy for me.”
When Thiero returned to the locker room, it felt like a release. He told teammates he had waited seven months for that.
He suffered a hyperextended knee while playing for Arkansas on Feb. 22 and missed eight games. The Razorbacks’ leading scorer and rebounder returned in the NCAA regional semifinal but played just six minutes off the bench as Arkansas lost to Texas Tech. He got surgery after the college season and said at Lakers media day he was still working through some swelling in his knee.
“You could tell how hard he works,” Reaves said. “The time that he’s in the gym. He’s had some unfortunate injuries here and there, but really good kid, wants to do the right things, always on time. Just good character.”
On tap
By reader request, we’ll include a brief lookahead section previewing the upcoming week’s games. This one is easy: The Lakers host Utah on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in their only game this week.
The Jazz (5-8) lost center Walker Kessler to a season-ending shoulder surgery, but are led by forward Lauri Markkanen’s 30.6 points and 6.2 rebounds. The Finnish forward scored 47 points in the Jazz’s double-overtime win over the Chicago Bulls on Sunday in which guard Keyonte George hit the game-winning three with two seconds left. The third-year guard is averaging career-highs in points (22.2) and assists (seven).
Favorite thing I ate this week
The Cuban burrito from Cafe Kacao in Oklahoma City.
(Thuc Nhi Nguyen / Los Angeles Times)
I have beef with Oklahoma City. Out of loyalty to my hometown, I will carry this vendetta until at least the NBA expands back to Seattle. But I allow myself to praise precisely one thing in that city and it’s the Cuban burrito at Cafe Kacao. It’s packed with vaca frita (shredded beef with sauteed onions), plantains, black beans and rice. The sweet and savory drizzle of plantain sauce and garlic sauce is the perfect topping.
In case you missed it
LeBron James knows there will be a ‘feel-out’ process when he returns to Lakers
Lakers takeaways: What we learned from the team’s five-game road trip
Luka Doncic scores 41 as Lakers rout Milwaukee Bucks to cap 3-2 trip
With LeBron nearing a return, Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic lead Lakers past Pelicans
Lakers can’t keep up with Oklahoma City and are routed
Until next time…
As always, pass along your thoughts to me at thucnhi.nguyen@latimes.com, and please consider subscribing if you like our work!
