Luka Dončić and the Los Angeles Lakers losing to the Orlando Magic marks their third loss in a row. That’s not exactly a good sign with how many games they have left and how many teams are fighting for the same playoffs position as them.
After the game, Dončić talked about what went wrong for the Lakers while also taking some accountability as the leader of the team.
Luka Dončić Reveals What He Needs to Do
During his postgame press conference, Dončić discussed what he needs to do to be a better leader for the Lakers.
“I gotta talk more, you know, get everybody in position. Trying to be a good leader, you know, I’m still new to the team but getting more comfortable talking more and more. So we gotta talk more,” Dončić said.
“I gotta talk more, you know get everybody in position. Trying to be a good leader you know I’m still new to the team but getting more comfortable talking more and more so we gotta talk more” pic.twitter.com/ojSCxtgeuE
— Luka Updates (@LukaUpdates) March 25, 2025
With the loss, the Lakers are now 43-28, which ties them with the Grizzlies for the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference. They have 11 games left to try to get a leg up on their competition.
Tough Transition For Dončić
In Dončić’s defense, he is still in a brand new situation where he has to learn a lot of new schemes on the fly. Even though the Lakers’ title hopes have been given a breath of fresh air, it’s not so easy of a transition.
The Lakers looked like a possible contender when they first added Dončić, but there have been some growing pains ever since LeBron James suffered a groin injury, which he has since recovered from.
The bottom line is that integrating a player, even if they are as good as Dončić is, isn’t always easy. In Dončić’s case, he’s a superstar playing for a new team with teammates that he’s played less than two months with. Even with his reputation, getting familiarized with new teammates mid-season isn’t seamless.
Now, with the Lakers expected to keep Dončić for the long haul, it will be on him to be the leader he knows he needs to be for them to reach their potential. He has played on the NBA’s biggest stage as recently as a year ago, so a task like this shouldn’t be too hard for him.
The real question is, by the time he has acclimated himself as a leader, will James still be playing at the same level he is now? With Dončić and James side by side, the Lakers have a shot, but that window won’t be open for too long.