The Los Angeles Lakers are bracing for the start of the season without LeBron James, who is sidelined with a sciatica issue on the right side of his body.
But Luka Doncic isn’t feeling extra pressure to carry the load in his absence.
“I don’t view it that way,” Doncic said after practice on Saturday. “I just want to play basketball. If I do less, if I do more, whatever it takes for me to get a win.”
Doncic admitted that losing LeBron, even temporarily, changes a lot.
“It’s a big change,” he said. “He’s a great player. He can help us a lot. But at the end of the day, our mentality needs to be ‘next man up.’ We got a group of guys that have been practicing and hopefully LeBron can join us as soon as possible. We are going to obviously need him. But our mentality has got to be ‘next man up.’ That’s it.”
The Lakers have opened the preseason with losses to Phoenix Suns and Golden State Warriors, then a win against the Warriors.
JJ Redick confirmed that Doncic will play in two of Los Angeles’ remaining four preseason matchups and doesn’t want to be without James for long.
“You hope that [LeBron’s] back soon,” Redick said. “Those things can be tricky. … It is unclear what the starting lineup is going to be, that’s the reality, until he is back. We’ll have to figure that out.”
Luka was a full participant in practice after a lighter workload throughout the week.
“I had [the] national team,” he said, referring to his time playing for Slovenia at EuroBasket. “Playing one month or something of basketball [for Slovenia]. Obviously it’s a long season ahead, so just because of that.”
For now, the Lakers are expected to roll with Doncic, Austin Reaves, and Deandre Ayton in the starting five.
Redick said he’s also considering separate rotations for when James plays and when he doesn’t, testing combinations that could maximize both lineups.
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