Lakers are about to learn a Luka Doncic lesson the Mavericks learned years ago

The Los Angeles Lakers have failed to build a contender around Luka Doncic through a season and a half, and this was something that took the Dallas Mavericks years to figure out how to properly do, and it will be a challenging lesson that the Lakers will have to learn for themselves.

They've already committed to trying to give Doncic a similar roster to the one he had in Dallas, but this won't happen overnight. It's going to take multiple moves, and even then, it'll be hard to replicate the roster that the Mavs had around him.

Given the Lakers had a 41-year-old LeBron James on a $52.6 million salary this past season, it was difficult for them to put the prolific 3-and-D wings they needed around Doncic and Austin Reaves. However, with James set to potentially retire or join a new team in free agency this summer, the Lakers will have the financial ability to maximize their roster around Doncic, as this was something they failed to do last season.

Lakers still have to figure out how to build a contender around Doncic

Doncic needs a rim-running and shot-blocking center to compensate for his defensive mishaps, as well as to cater to his lob-passing ability, but the Lakers failed in this department by adding Deandre Ayton last summer. Ayton has had his moments in Los Angeles, but his lack of aggression on both sides of the ball has hindered him from becoming the type of center Doncic needs to play with, as Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II were more idealistic molds of this type of player.

Besides Rui Hachimura, the Lakers don't have any other bigger-bodied wings that can play both sides of the ball and consistently knock down open looks. They were hoping someone like Dalton Knecht could turn into this, but he's been hard-pressed to crack JJ Redick's rotation up to this point in his career.

It took the Mavericks six seasons to fully build a contender around Doncic, and it wasn't an easy process to get there. The trades at the 2024 trade deadline for P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford are what set the Mavericks up to get to the NBA Finals that season, and the Lakers will have to fill out their roster and make moves for veterans of similar ilk if they want to achieve the same feat as Dallas did.

It took the Mavericks six seasons to crack this formula

Doncic also had an elite shot creator and playmaker in Kyrie Irving alongside him that season, and while the Lakers have someone kind of like this in Austin Reaves, Reaves simply isn't the same caliber of creator as Irving is, especially in a playoff setting.

One can't blame the Lakers for jumping on Nico Harrison's ill-advised decision to trade Doncic for Anthony Davis, but they still have yet to address the hardest part of building around Doncic by finding the type of players he fits best with. An aging James with a massive contract certainly didn't help this proposition, but it will be extremely interesting to see how they go about filling out the roster going forward, and if they follow the Mavericks' blueprint from 2024.

Doncic's continued injuries certainly haven't helped the Lakers either, so building a roster that can withstand him potentially being out a round or two in the playoffs will be something they have to consider as well. Doncic is one of the best offensive talents of all-time, but being a heliocentric ball handler that doesn't play defense all the time, he's not the easiest superstar to build a contender around, as the Mavericks already found out.

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