Lakers superstar Luka Doncic is adjusting to life in LA quickly, and coach JJ Redick has seemingly contributed to it, at least on the court. Redick, Doncic’s former teammate in Dallas, has coached him to 10 wins in 15 games, including a seven-game winning streak.
Doncic has averaged 26.2 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 8.1 assists in his young Lakers career, shooting 40.0%, including 33.6% from 3. It took a while for him to adjust to a new team after a shocking trade he didn’t see coming.
However, rookie coach Redick’s Xs and Os have catered to Doncic’s strengths, and the 26-year-old superstar attested to that after Monday’s 125-109 home win over the Spurs. It may have also felt like a shot at his former coach, Jason Kidd, to many who have already compared Doncic’s tenure in Dallas to LA.
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“Makes my life easier,” Doncic said about Redick (2:38). “Those actions that he put … There was one ATO (after timeout) today, where we ran it twice and we just scored on alley-oops, so that explains JJ’s mind. The way he sees basketball, it’s amazing.”
JJ Redick has mostly kept Luka Doncic on the ball, allowing him to run the offense at his pace. The play calling was also used to fit Doncic’s style, which is more traditional pick and rolls and mismatch hunting. On Monday, Redick preferred organized offensive playcalling more than freelance behind Doncic’s improved chemistry with his teammates, and LA generated 34 assists on 44 made shots. The Lakers were 19 of 48 from 3-point range.
Luka Doncic recorded 14 assists, committing just three turnovers. He added 21 points and nine rebounds.
Luka Doncic struggled in Jason Kidd’s “off-ball” strategy for him with Mavericks before Lakers trade
Coming into the 2024-25 NBA season, Mavericks coach Jason Kidd’s strategy was to infuse more off-ball style for Luka Doncic, something the superstar point guard hasn’t done much in his career. Doncic has been the system for all the teams he’s played on because of his gravity, scoring and playmaking ability.
There are not many players in the league who can handle all kinds of defensive coverage better than him without much help around him. However, Kidd wanted to take that away from Doncic as he believed it was in the best interests of the team if Doncic learned how to play without the ball.
However, Doncic took time to adjust and even expressed the elements that stood out in that process.
“Just overall. Just playing without the ball. Just all of it,” Doncic said in November.
After Doncic missed some time because of an injury late in November, Kidd said he wanted the Mavericks to play at the same pace as they did without Doncic and that his star player would have to adjust to that flow.
“Normally you take a step back to wait on him, “Kidd said. “We’ve gotta continue to keep pushing the pace. He’ll find a way to make it work. We’re excited to hopefully have him back shortly.”
Luka Doncic eventually got injured in his final Maverick game and got traded in February. Since then, under JJ Redick, he has played off the ball, but it has been a seamless fit, with more player and ball movement, where Doncic eventually handles the tempo and pace for the team.
Redick has drawn up plays for Doncic to get the ball coming off screens, so he doesn’t have to tire himself out in hunting mismatches and attacking in space. The offense remains more in favor of Doncic and his high-usage rate preference, with LeBron James and Austin Reaves also making adjustments to make the Slovenian comfortable.
Edited by Arhaan Raje
