We’re a little over two months removed from the stunning trade between the Lakers and Dallas Mavericks that sent forward Anthony Davis to Texas and guard Luka Dončić to Los Angeles.
With the 26-year-old superstar set to return to Dallas on Wednesday, we should look at Dončić’s impact on the Lakers now that he has 25 starts under his belt.
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Contextualize the box score
If you were to only look at his stat lines, one would assume that Luka Dončić has failed to live up to expectations since joining the Lakers. Dončić’s points, steals, and field goal percentage have gone down compared to his numbers with the Mavericks. Meanwhile, he is averaging more turnovers per game. But, if we look more closely at the stats, we see an efficient player.
His scoring average may be down from 28.1 points per game to 27.3, but he’s doing that while playing fewer minutes. He’s also recording fewer field goal attempts and made baskets each game. If he were averaging 21.2 field goal attempts per game with the Lakers like he was with the Mavs, I’m confident that he would be putting up more points per game in LA than he was scoring earlier this season in Dallas.
Los Angeles Lakers defense
– 114.4 points per 100 in 2899 possessions with AD in the lineup
– 112.5 points per 100 in 1791 possessions with LukaDallas Mavericks defense
– 113.8 points per 100 in 412 poss with AD in the lineup
– 110.3 points per 100 in 1620 poss with Luka— Iztok Franko (@iztok_franko) April 7, 2025
It’s also worth noting that he has to share touches with arguably the best basketball player to ever live, LeBron James, while he only had to split possessions with Kyrie Irving in Dallas. This basically means that Luka Dončić is adapting to a new role as the number-two guy on a team with the Lakers, whereas he was the number-one option with the Mavs. Considering he’s the second-best player in Los Angeles, his statistics are incredibly impressive. Any NBA owner would gladly take a number-two option that averages 27.3 points, 7.7 assists, and 8.3 rebounds. With those averages, he’s fourth in the league in scoring, seventh in assists, and tied for 20th in rebounding.
He has also been more effective from beyond the arc. In 22 games with Dallas, Dončić made 35.38% of his three-pointers. With the Lakers, though, Dončić has converted 35.80% of his three-pointers. While that doesn’t sound like much separation, that’s the difference between Stephen Curry’s career average from beyond the arc (42.33%) and the career average of the Bucks’ A.J. Green (41.91%). When you make this comparison, you realize how important it has been that Dončić has improved his three-point shooting efforts.
Keeping the team afloat
We also have to acknowledge the stellar work Luka Dončić did in Lebron James’ absence. On March 8th, the King injured his groin, forcing him to miss two weeks of action. This ended up being a seven-game stretch.
Thankfully for the Lakers, Dončić played in five of those games, leading LA to a 3-2 record, which included a key win over the Denver Nuggets. During LeBron’s brief absence, Dončić averaged 30.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, 8.8 assists, and 2.2 steals. Those are incredibly impressive numbers and an output that would have made him the third-best scorer, fifth-best passer, second-best stealer, and 11th-best rebounder in the NBA.
“LeBron and Luka BEAT THE HELL out of the Thunder..
There’s gonna be some INCREDIBLE playoff matchups in the Western Conference” @BostonConnr #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/F8wtayqxjU
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) April 7, 2025
Because of Dončić’s impressive run, the Lakers were able to remain competitive in the Western Conference’s battle for one of the top playoff seeds. They’re only a couple of weeks removed from being positioned as the number-two seed in the West. That slot is currently controlled by the Houston Rockets, but the Lakers are still slated to be the three-seed in the West should the regular season end today. That is great when you realize the Lakers and the eighth-seeded Memphis Grizzlies are separated by only two games. Had Luka Dončić not been a superhero in LeBron James’ absence, LA might be a play-in team right now.
We also have to recognize that Dončić is more readily available than Anthony Davis. Not including this season, Anthony Davis played in 270 of the Lakers’ 389 games from the 2019-2020 season to the 2023-24 season (69.4%). Though the sample size is small, Luka Dončić has played in 25 of 28 of the Lakers’ last games, which means he’s available in 89.3% of LA’s contests. If we compare that percentage to AD’s career with the Lakers, he would’ve been available for 347 of LA’s 389 games. His presence and availability have been incredibly valuable.
His stats may be slightly down, but the Lakers and Luka Dončić are on the up-and-up.
