Luka Doncic played his third game for the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night, a loss to the Charlotte Hornets. It wasn’t a pretty showing for the Lakers star, as he finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists on 5-for-18 from the field and 1-for-9 from beyond the arc.
In three games as a Laker, Doncic is shooting 16-for-45 from the field total and 5-for-24 from deep. That’s 35.6% and 20.8%, respectively. For someone with career shooting splits of 46.9/34.8/74.8, those numbers could look deeply concerning.
But some context shows why Doncic might be struggling. He had not played since Christmas Day prior to returning before the All-Star break, and in the meantime was shockingly sent from Dallas to L.A. with little to no warning. It’s understandable that he is not performing to his usual self just yet.
The Lakers have also undergone a complete identity shift by swapping Anthony Davis for Luka, and all of those factors have Doncic recognizing that things are not going to be perfect right away.
“Yeah, obviously, it’s going to take a little time,” Doncic said. “Today was a lot of rustiness on my part. Starting the game with four or five turnovers, that can’t happen. Just gotta play basketball the right way.”
What isn’t concerning Doncic, though, is the quality of shots he’s getting. He knows that he might just need some time before those shots start falling.
“I think it is good. Obviously, like I said, I’m going to need a little time just to adjust to everything,” he added. “But I think it was fine. Today, I think we had some good opportunities to make shots, but we didn’t make any shots, especially me. [It will] just take a little time to get used to it.”
None of this is changing his mindset or the way he approaches the game, even if his shot is far less efficient than usual.
“Yeah, just play the way I play. Just trying to stay aggressive and do some other things that could help to get a win. But just stay aggressive.”
Doncic is still happy with the mental break that All-Star gave him, but now that he’s back, he’s ready to get to work in figuring things out with his new team and getting his conditioning back.
“Honestly, I was getting my mind off basketball a little bit. But just excited to come back and play. I missed a lot of time, never missed this much time so it’s something new to me. But I was just excited to get back to playing,” Doncic said.
The Lakers certainly would like to get Luka into the flow of the offense as quickly as possible, as a Western Conference logjam means that too many losses in a row could result in losing ground in the standings. L.A. still has a somewhat comfortable gap before Play-In Tournament territory, but it could go away in a hurry.
Getting Doncic fully integrated is going to take time. But in the meantime, the Lakers still have to find a way to piece together wins.
Luka Doncic won’t have minutes restriction
One of the things that could have been hurting prior to the All-Star break was that Luka Doncic had a minutes restriction in his first two games. That seems to have been lifted, as Doncic played 33 minutes against the Hornets despite being in foul trouble. Now, the Lakers can get a full sense of their rotation and where all the pieces fit together.
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events, participate in live shows, and more!