A year after the arrival of Luka Doncic, what is the first assessment for the Lakers?

On February 1, 2025, an earthquake of very, very large magnitude struck the NBA ecosystem. Luka Dončić was sent, to everyone’s surprise, yes Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis. Obviously, the face of the league was shaken then. A year later, on February 1, the Lakers were back in New York to face the Knicks, just like last year.

So it’s perfect for exploring the Los Angeles side. Are the Lakers really stronger than the transfer? Because if we look at the results, the day after the games in New York, it’s almost copy and paste: on February 1, 2025, the Lakers were 28-19, and this February 1, 2026, the Californians are at 29-19…

“We are in a good position. Obviously we have work to do. We have a very good group”, the Slovenian thinks. “I love this group,” continues LeBron James, who landed on Sunday with 22nd participation in the All-Star game. “We had some very good moments, others not so good. We want to continue to build on that. The season is not easy, we had injuries and absences. Our back (Austin Reeves) has been injured for a while and is important to us. So it’s not easy to know what it might actually look like. »

Still in the playoff race

Nothing really indicates that the Lakers are stronger with Luka Doncic than they were without him, when they trusted in Anthony Davis, and the playoffs will bring the first real truth, after a rather dry elimination (4-1) in the first round last season, against the Wolves.

How does JJ Redick rate his group one year after this huge move and hours before the trade deadline this Thursday? “We are in the race for the playoffs in the West”reminds the coach as he and his players take sixth place. “Our guys have been great this season, doing a good job responding to the ups and downs that the season presents.”

However, the coach specifies that no one “Neither the GM nor the coach or the player is going to say that the team is perfect, that all the pieces fit together perfectly. That really doesn’t happen very often.”. However, he assures that his players will “we’ve done a good job in the last month, trying to play well together”.

And above all, this transfer allows Los Angeles to consider the mid-term future, and especially the post-LeBron James era, with much more clarity than they could with Anthony Davis.

			Shots			Rebounds
Players	MJ	Min	Shots	3pts	LF	Off	Def	That	Pd	Bp	Int	Ct	Ft	Pts
Luka Dončić	40	36:11	47.6	34.8	78.0	0.8	7.2	8.0	8.8	4.2	1.5	0.5	2.5	33.6
Austin Reaves	23	35:18	50.7	36.5	87.3	0.7	4.5	5.2	6.3	3.3	1.0	0.2	2.3	26.6
LeBron James	31	33:06	50.5	32.9	73.7	0.7	5.1	5.8	6.6	2.8	1.1	0.6	1.5	21.9
Deandre Ayton	43	28:25	67.5	0	66.7	2.6	5.9	8.5	0.9	1.4	0.7	1.0	2.3	13.6
Rui Hachimura	38	29:46	50.0	43.0	72.3	0.7	2.8	3.5	0.9	0.8	0.5	0.3	1.6	12.1
Marcus Smart	39	28:32	40.1	32.6	85.7	0.7	2.3	3.0	2.8	1.8	1.3	0.3	2.7	9.7
Jake Laravia	48	27:16	45.4	32.7	75.3	1.4	2.7	4.2	2.0	1.1	1.4	0.5	2.2	9.2
Jackson Hayes	40	17:26	77.0	100.0	64.3	1.4	2.5	3.9	0.8	0.5	0.4	0.7	2.0	6.4
Nick Smith Jr	24	12:33	42.4	39.7	63.6	0.1	0.7	0.8	1.1	0.8	0.3	0.1	1.0	5.8
Jarred Vanderbilt	39	19:23	46.5	30.3	64.9	1.6	3.4	5.0	1.3	1.0	0.9	0.3	1.8	4.9
Gabe Vincent	28	19:24	35.4	37.6	90.9	0.3	0.7	0.9	1.3	0.4	0.4	0.0	1.9	4.9
Dalton Knecht	39	11:55	44.2	31.9	72.2	0.3	1.2	1.5	0.3	0.4	0.2	0.2	0.9	4.6
Drew Timme	15	8:08	57.1	38.5	66.7	0.5	0.8	1.3	0.9	0.3	0.3	0.0	0.7	3.1
Kobe Bufkin	4	11:15	36.4	28.6	100.0	0.3	1.0	1.3	0.5	0.3	0.3	0.8	0.8	3.0
Maki glue	23	10:39	35.7	23.5	75.0	0.7	1.1	1.8	0.7	0.3	0.3	0.2	1.3	2.0
Bronnie James	26	6:53	37.0	37.5	80.0	0.2	0.3	0.5	1.1	0.5	0.4	0.0	0.5	1.8
Adou Thiero	15	5:48	38.9	0.0	75.0	0.5	0.7	1.2	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.1	1.0	1.3
Christian Koloko	2	3:00 am	0	0	0	0.0	0.5	0.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.0
Chris Manon	4	3:30	0.0	0.0	0	0.3	0.5	0.8	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.5	0.8	0.0