The Lakers made the splash of the decade, but is the star power actually suffocating the squad? 🤔 Brian Windhorst just dropped a truth bomb on First Take regarding the chemistry between the King and the new era: "When Luka [Doncic], LeBron [James], and Austin Reaves play… pic.twitter.com/Fal9ogMsVa— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) February 26, 2026
A lot of folks said this when the trade was made over a year ago…Luka & LeBron are too similar. Our coaching staff had an entire off-season to figure out how to make it work but apparently they did nothing. Just roll the ball out there and hope it works itself out.
Normally, having a 26-year old superstar in his prime join with a 41-year old superstar near retirement would be an easy fit. The problem is that LeBron is not a normal 41-year old.
To me, the real villain has been Pelinka, who has not let three transaction periods go by without making a major move to add players that complement Luka. That makes me wonder whether Mark Walter will really be the savior for the Lakers since he’s willing to let Pelinka remain in charge despite his inability to make moves.
The only way JJ is going to solve the Big Three puzzle is by breaking it up. The numbers say start with Luka, Austin, and Jax and back that up with LeBron, Smart, and Ayton. If JJ continues to waste time trying to get the starting Big Three to win their minutes, he will end up getting fired this summer.
Right now, the Lakers need to move LeBron to the bench. I’m hopeful that that conversation has already started. We have 25 games left before playoffs, with 18 against teams with winning records. We’ll struggle to play .500 the rest of the way.
It’s not about age; it’s about fit. Your best 3 players don’t thrive playing off the ball and don’t play defense either. When we traded our only 2-way players for Luka, this imbalance had to be anticipated.
I’m no fan of Pelinka but he’s not doing anything that he hasn’t been instructed to do by his bosses. There were no substantial moves to be made with our lack of resources… probably why nobody’s job is truly on the line….yet. This summer is the line in the sand which is why the only dept to get overhauled was scouting. Now after that, all bets are off.
It’s also about the lack of role players who would fit with the Big Three. If we had Peyton Watson as our starting small forward and Walker Kessler as our starting center, then a Luka and Austin backcourt and 41-year old LeBron at power forward would surely work a lot better.