HOUSTON — A few hours before the Lakers’ gritty 100-92 win over the Rockets on Monday evening, head coach JJ Redick spoke at length about the responsibility of his players to be stars in their defensive roles. That would be the theme of the night.
The overwhelming takeaway from the contest was Los Angeles’ ability to neutralize Kevin Durant in the halfcourt, limiting the future Hall of Famer to just 1-for-5 shooting in the second half, with six turnovers. But that approach took more than just aggressive playcalls and schemes from the coaching staff to be successful. The Lakers have won nine out of their last 10, with the league’s No. 2 defense, and are outscoring opponents by 14.6 points per 100 possessions. They’re playing their best brand of basketball at the right time, and Luka Dončić, for all of his offensive brilliance, remains a critical figure at the other end.
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“Overall he’s been a good defender for us,” Redick said after the game. “When he gets switched on to the ball — I don’t know what the updated numbers are after the last three games — it’s been under 0.9 [points allowed per possession]. It’s been one of the best, if not the best of all our perimeter guys.
“He’s been more active with rotations and being physical with our switching groups. With him, it’s to be solid, engaged, do our rules, and he’s smart and can execute that at a high level. When he’s fully on defensively, he can guard the basketball. We’ve seen him do it against everybody in this league. We trust him.”
The narrative of Dončić’s defense and the evolution of his ability to contribute positively has been trending up over the last few seasons. It had been a consistent knock against him since entering the league nearly a decade ago, and with the 2024 Finals when Dončić was routinely targeted by the Boston Celtics. His defense became an inflection point for both him and the Dallas Mavericks as an organization. (Dončić’s defensive shortcomings were also reportedly one of the reasons for the silliest trade in professional sports history, but that’s neither here nor there.)
His arrival in Los Angeles, joining an offensive-leaning Austin Reaves and an aging LeBron James, didn’t come without questions about the Lakers’ viability. Adding Deandre Ayton in the offseason, another scoring big, also gave the impression that the organization was eschewing one side of the ball for the other. On the season, they rank 20th in defensive rating, a reminder of the difficulties associated with roster construction.
But Dončić, who reportedly lost over 20 pounds during the offseason, came into training camp with an improved physique and conditioning, putting him in prime position to function as a key cog in Redick’s shape-shifting defense.
On paper, the Lakers don’t have a plethora of defensive specialists. This isn’t a great rebounding or shot-blocking group (25th in blocks, 28th in rebounds) by any means. And outside of Marcus Smart, there is a dearth of physical point-of-attack aggressors. What Redick has done to account for the lack of roster tools is compose a scheme good enough to keep opposing offenses honest.
The Lakers’ defense is a true sum of its parts. It relies heavily on zone (fourth in frequency, per Synergy tracking); encourages switching to slow teams down (second-most in the league); keeps multiple bodies within a decent proximity of one another (ninth in medium defensive shell usage). But the Lakers are also hell-bent on helping each other — top-10 in rotations, second in digs and sixth in loading up in the paint.
An understanding of Redick’s scheme means contextualizing Dončić’s defensive skill set, highlighting what he is good at and attempting to mask what he’s deficient in. Contesting shots, arguably the second-most important aspect of defense outside of positioning, is a strength of his, with Dončić in the 95th percentile in shots contested per 100 possessions and 87th percentile in rim contests. This particularly manifests itself as an isolation defender, when teams try to pick at him; Dončić is allowing just 0.844 points per possession in 109 isolations this year, a hairline below Amen Thompson, and a better mark than Jaden McDaniels and OG Anunoby. He is now quick enough to move his feet with ball-handlers in space and has an improved burst, which helps with his reaction time.
(It’s important to note that this is all happening at the same time as one of the most heliocentric seasons in recent NBA history. Dončić is seventh in touches per game, second in time of possession, third in usage rate among players who have logged at least 1,000 minutes and, oh yeah, first in the league in scoring. Combine that with some of his advanced metrics — ninth in DARKO, seventh in EPM, sixth in LEBRON — and the sheer fact that Dončić is no longer simply taking plays off on defense is worth mentioning.)
Trusting Dončić in defensive space, combined with Redick placing him on low-usage forwards and standstill shooters, affords the best version of the Slovenian, allowing him to take chances in passing lanes. His 4.2 deflections per 100 possessions rank in the 82nd percentile, according to Databallr, and a healthy amount of steals, blocks and a positive stop rate ensure he’s not regarded as a weak link in the Lakers’ setup.
This month, Los Angeles has amassed some quality wins as the playoffs edge closer, defeating Denver, Houston, Minnesota and New York. More importantly, the Lakers have remained a consistent closing group in fourth quarters, with the league’s ninth-best defensive rating in that span.
Dončić isn’t going to ever make an All-Defensive ballot, but his improved effort, consistency and productivity on that end of the floor gives the Lakers an edge and Redick some peace of mind, and makes them quite the interesting contender as the postseason nears.
“It’s time to lock in,” Dončić said of the importance of late-game defense. “That’s when you win games. That’s when teams show up and show what kind of team they are.”
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