The long-anticipated wait for LeBron James was worth it as the King returned against the Utah Jazz and helped lead the Los Angeles Lakers to an entertaining win.
James took a bit to get going offensively, but found himself a willing and flashy distributor in the fourth quarter. James clearly has some rust to shake off, but the most important thing is he came out of the game feeling physically fine.
Jake LaRavia filled in admirably for the Lakers, carving out a bid role in head coach JJ Redick’s rotation in LeBron’s absence. However, LaRavia certainly benefitted from playing next to James as he dropped 16 points in the win.
It was LaRavia’s first time ever sharing the floor with James and he described the experience.
“It was dope to finally get on the court with him,” LaRavia said. “He brings something to this team that I don’t think we really had. Just another level of passing ability that he’s able to do and just the force he is on offense in transition with the ball in his hands.
“It was really fun. I made my first shot that he passed to me ever, so I think we’re in good standing and hopefully I get a lot more.”
LaRavia also broke down a play where he scored on a dunk thanks to advice from James.
“I’m pretty sure that was right out of a timeout and he had literally came up to me. He told me, he said, ‘Just cut behind him. Cut behind him and I’ll find you.’ So when he got the ball in the post, my guy was just not even looking at me so I just cut behind him and got a good little dunk, a nice little and-1 dunk.”
LaRavia also compared James to Luka Doncic and said he’s looking forward to continuing to learn from him.
“He’s kind of like Luka in just the way that he sees the game very differently when he’s on the court,” LaRavia said. “His passing ability, his high IQ, just the way that he talks about the game. So it’ll be good just to continue to learn from him as the season goes on.”
James may not be at the peak of his powers any more, but on this Lakers team he is the perfect player to enhance the supporting cast. Players like LaRavia will almost always be in the best position to score when they share the floor with James, so Los Angeles’ offense will be worth monitoring the rest of the way.
LeBron James pushed for Luka Doncic to be last starter introduced
LeBron James understands that the Lakers are now Luka Doncic’s team which is why he pushed for his co-star to be the last starter introduced despite his long-awaited return.
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