Brian Windhorst speaks loudly about the quiet part about LeBron James’ fit
On Tuesday evening, The Los Angeles Lakers recorded their second straight loss with a narrow loss at home to the Orlando Magic. The Lakers had a late chance to win this one, but Luka Dončić gave up dribbling and was forced to switch to LeBron Jameswhose spinning kick behind the arc clattered off the board and rim.
Much has been made of the perceived shortcomings of the Lakers’ roster in recent weeks, and now, an ESPN NBA analyst Brian Windhorst he added more fuel for discourse.
“When Luka (Doncic), Lebron (James) and Austin Reaves play together, they’re just not a good team … When it’s just (Austin and Luca) out there, the Lakers are a great team,” Windhorst said on First Take, according to NBA Courtside on X, formerly Twitter.
Indeed, James, Doncic and Reaves in many ways have skills that cancel each other out, with none of them being good defenders and all needing the ball to be at their best offensively.
Many have floated the idea that the Lakers will either let James walk or bring him back to a team deal this offseason to build a more sustainable roster around Doncic, similar to the Dallas Mavericks team that reached the Finals in 2024 before the team inexplicably traded him to Los Angeles.
Doncic and Reaves have created a lethal one-two punch in the games they’ve played together without James, but when all three are in the lineup, none of them are able to be fully productive on offense, and the team’s defense tends to falter.
Still, despite this, the Lakers are 11 games over the .500 mark at 34-23, and are not out of the picture to secure home-court advantage in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.
The Lakers will next take the floor Thursday night on the road against the Phoenix Suns.
2026-02-25 16:16:00
