LeBron James and JJ Redick don’t have to worry about topping Luka Doncic these days.
The five-time All-Star is starting to heat up with the Los Angeles Lakers after recovering from injury issues.
But just months before his blockbuster trade, James and Redick – before they teamed up in Hollywood – shared an in-depth discussion on the impossibility of stopping the Slovenian superstar.
On Tuesday, he joined an exclusive club of Lakers to post 30 points and 15 assists in a game alongside LeBron, Magic Johnson, and Jerry West.
Los Angeles’ rivals are seething that the Dallas Mavericks allowed Redick to pair James and Doncic on a formidable team that has won seven straight games.
While LeBron was gutted to hear close friend Anthony Davis was heading to Dallas as part of the package, a clip from 11 months ago sheds light on the incredible respect he has for his new teammate.
He sat down with his coach to break down defensive strategies in the NBA.
Redick revealed that Doncic had been blitzed on the pick and roll significantly more than any other player that season, adding that LeBron had never been in the top 20 for his entire career.
“Because I make all the right reads,” King James said when asked why that was the case. “It’s that simple, teams know they can’t blitz me in a pick and roll.”
Redick lavished praise on Doncic as they discussed the shortfalls of trying to pressure him.
“Here’s what’s interesting about Luca,” he said. “I think he’s one of a handful of guys in this era that can make any pass against the double team.
“James is one of them — you are for sure — Luca is one of them, so why are you blitzing him?”
GettyRedick has enjoyed working with Doncic[/caption]
“I don’t understand it, especially with the shooting they they surrounded him with, it doesn’t make sense,” LeBron agreed.
“It doesn’t make sense because he’s going to make every read and when Tim Hardaway is hitting six or seven threes you’re done.
“Kyrie (Irving)’s gonna get what Kyrie’s gonna do. Luca is gonna do what he does, when you get Tim Hardway hitting six or seven threes — and in our game earlier this year we blitzed Luka and Dante Exum hit five or six threes.”
The Lakers duo went on to explain that there was no way of stopping the NBA’s top talent after the rise in 3-point shooting spearheaded by Steph Curry.
“I just think with spacing and with shooting there’s just no good answers,” admitted Redick. “So if people want explanations for why we’re having all these high-scoring outputs it’s because there’s not a good f****** answer.”
“There’s just no good answers for the best players right now,” added LeBron. “Everyone’s saying, ‘OK let’s get to the switches, at least we will keep everybody home.’
“But then you realize, when you switch a non-favorable defender on a great player, if that great player is going to make the reads, they’re going to get threes anyways.
“They’re going to drive, there’s going to be a help and then there’s going to be a numbers game. So it doesn’t matter.
“It has to come to a point where it’s like, ‘What are we what are we willing to give up?’ Not, ‘What are we willing to stop?’
“You can’t stop great guys, you can’t stop great players, just hope they miss.”
LeBron is still posting numbers despite being past the age of 40 and has passed 50,000 points — he is the only player to even approach the milestone let alone pass it.
“These scoring outputs are insane. I wish I was back in 2012 right now with young tyres,” he added.
How would prime James fare in the current offensive climate? We will never know but, with Doncic at his side, a fifth NBA Championship is a possibility.
