The Los Angeles Lakers took Luka Doncic out with two and a half minutes left in the opening quarter in Sunday’s win over the Kings, instead of playing him the entire first. They had success staggering Luka and LeBron James more with Austin Reaves out. Head coach JJ Redick made it clear postgame that this trend will continue moving forward.
The win over the Kings snapped a three-game losing streak, and coach Redick has been critical of Luka’s defense in recent weeks. They are asking him to carry a massive offensive workload, so playing him in shorter bursts could do wonders on both ends of the floor.