{"id":49193,"date":"2025-10-11T23:22:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T03:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/sin-categoria\/doncic-takes-charge-lakers-seek-wins-without-lebron-james\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T23:22:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T03:22:14","slug":"doncic-takes-charge-lakers-seek-wins-without-lebron-james","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/nba\/doncic-takes-charge-lakers-seek-wins-without-lebron-james\/","title":{"rendered":"Doncic takes charge: Lakers seek wins without LeBron James"},"content":{"rendered":"

Doncic Faces Challenge Without LeBron James: “Next Man Up” Mentality<\/h2>\n\nAmid LeBron James’ recovery from sciatica, Luka Doncic assumes a key role in the Lakers. The Slovenian star, however, does not feel the pressure of having to do more in James’ absence.\n\n\n
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“I don’t see it that way. I just want to play basketball. If I do less, if I do more, whatever is needed to get a win.”<\/p>\n\nLuka Doncic<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\nThe Lakers, without James and Doncic, have yet to achieve a win in the preseason, with losses against the Phoenix Suns and the Golden State Warriors.\n\nThe team prepares for a matchup against the Warriors, followed by games against the Suns and the Dallas Mavericks.\n\nDoncic has fully participated in training, after having managed his workload to avoid wear and tear after his participation in the EuroBasket.\n\n\n

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“I had the national team. I played a month or so of basketball. Obviously, there’s a long season ahead, so that’s why.”<\/p>\n\nLuka Doncic<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\nLakers coach JJ Redick faces the challenge of covering for the absence of James, who will be out for several weeks.\n\n\n

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\u201cWe hope he returns soon. Those things can be complicated. It\u2019s not clear what the starting lineup will be, that\u2019s the reality, until he returns. We\u2019ll have to figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n\nJJ Redick<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\nDoncic, along with Austin Reaves and Deandre Ayton, will be part of the starting lineup.\n\nRedick will evaluate the other two starting positions, considering Rui Hachimura, Jarred Vanderbilt, Jake LaRavia, and Marcus Smart.\n\nSmart, who was also out at the beginning of the preseason, will play against the Warriors.\n\nRedick has considered having a lineup and rotation that better fits when James is present and another when he is not.\n\nDoncic and James have been in contact during training, which has contributed to the team’s chemistry.\n\nWhile James recovers, his voice will be an asset from the bench.\n\n\n

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\u201cIt’s a big change. He’s a great player. He can help us a lot. But at the end of the day, our mentality has to be ‘next man up.’ We have a group of guys who have been practicing and we hope LeBron can join us as soon as possible. Obviously, we’re going to need him. But our mentality has to be ‘next man up.’ That’s it.\u201d<\/p>\n\nLuka Doncic<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Doncic Faces Challenge Without LeBron James: “Next Man Up” Mentality Amid LeBron James’ recovery from sciatica, Luka Doncic assumes a key role in the Lakers. The Slovenian star, however, does not feel the pressure of having to do more in James’ absence. “I don’t see it that way. I just want to play basketball. If […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[120,121,592,1063],"class_list":{"0":"post-49193","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-nba","7":"tag-lakers","8":"tag-lebron-james","9":"tag-luka-doncic","10":"tag-preseason"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49193\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}