The Los Angeles Lakers have turned it up as the league’s prime time team at this stage of the year.
Upon netting Luka Doncic in the NBA’s most stunning trade ever, the vibes within the Lakeshow instantly became immaculate as argued by an NBA legend.
With the Slovenian superstar living up to the billing as the “best in the world,” Doncic recently showed why he’s the perfect superstar as the next in line for LeBron James after dropping a historic display.
Enjoying the presence of Doncic, the Lakers have made themselves a legit contender in the eyes of an insider. They have won nine of their last games en route to being the No. 2 squad in the competitive Western Conference (40-21).
Within their’ dominant stretch, Trey Murphy III has been a key witness of the Lakers’ groundbreaking progression.
In the New Orleans Pelicans’ brutal 136-115 last March 4, Murphy himself had a first-hand view of how LA transform into an entire different team.
During his appearance on The Young Man and The Three podcast, the Pelicans forward detailed his experience and the important segment around the Lakers on their previous encounter.
“Pretty good team. Like, really good team,” he initially said.
“I think the biggest thing that stood out to me was just them defensively, like they played, like a really smart defense, where they show up driving lanes, and they just funnel everything into the paint, but also still try to take away paint points.”
As it is, the Lakers’ defensive identity has been off the charts recently. Over their past 11 games, via NBA.com, they are leading the entire league in defensive rating (106.9).
The Purple and Gold also clamped their opponents to lowest field goal percentage (42.9%) and the second lowest in points average (106.8) just behind the Boston Celtics’ mark (106.2).
Many became skeptical about the Lakers’ frontcourt depth since their rescinded controversial trade around Mark Williams. With Anthony Davis now in the Dallas Mavericks, the majority raised questions about who will be the team’s main interior presence.
Amid doubts, Jaxson Hayes stepped up and boldly assumed the responsibility of being LA’s inside anchor.
In the Lakers’ splendid run, Hayes has averaged 8.1 points in a highly consistent 75.6 percent shooting to go with 5.5 boards. He’s also playing solid defense, tallying 1.2 blocks.
“Jaxson, I mean, he’s a tall athlete, he defends well in space. He’s able to protect the rim, and then offensively, all he really has to do is just stand in the dunker spot and Luka and LeBron gonna find him,” Murphy said about Hayes.
“So it’s really not much that he has to do that he can’t do, like he’s able to do all those things at a really high level.
“So I think he’s filled that so called void that everybody thought was gonna be present with the Lakers.”
With still plenty of regular season basketball in the calendar, the Lakers are getting better and better in their aspired title hunt. The entire NBA has to watch out as they are surely positioned towards success.
