‘Skinny Luke’ pulls a truth bomb from Rachel Nichols
on wednesday Los Angeles Lakers began their 2025-26 NBA season with a relatively uncompetitive record loss to the Golden State Warriors at home. It was a masterpiece, at least in attack, for Luka Dončićwho poured in 43 points in his first season opener for the Lakers, but couldn’t get much help from his Los Angeles teammates en route to the loss.
One of the big stories coming into this season for the Lakers has been Doncic’s apparent weight loss, and recently NBA Insider Rachel Nichols stopped by FS1’s Heard with Colin Cowherd to break her thoughts.
“He said that with the weight loss, it’s definitely easier for him to move around. He got back on defense easier, you saw that last night, and he talked about attacking the paint more. He had more paint points last night than he did in any game last season and it showed,” Nichols said.
“It’s great for the Lakers because Skinny Luka is someone they’re going to have to depend on, especially when LeBron’s out. LeBron’s absence is definitely a problem,” she added. “He’s not going to solve all of their problems on the roster, but as LeBron’s gotten older, we’ve seen the basketball skills or the athleticism diminish a little bit, but the fact that he’s so smart on the court, that’s a huge asset to this team, and that’s not there right now.”
A strangely constructed Lakers team
The Lakers have Luka Doncic, which means a lot, but they don’t have many three-and-D players or utility frontcourt players in their rotation, which severely limits how good they can be this year.
Both of these issues were on full display in the game against the Warriors, as Los Angeles was unable to score against Golden State and also struggled mightily from behind the three-point line.
Either way, the Lakers will next take the floor on Friday night when they host the Minnesota Timberwolves.
2025-10-23 17:03:00
