What Luka Doncic made for my Lakers the teammates were unique and different, but no less impressive. It was a look at how a superstar guard leads a team.
In a team-building event organized by Doncic after Tuesday's practice, he invited his teammates to the Porsche Driving Experience. He covered the entire cost of the event, where his teammates tested Porsche models on the track.
This impressed the Lakers center so much. Deandre Aytonbringing a smile to his face when asked about Doncic's gesture.
“I really appreciate Luca for that,” Ayton said. “I've never done this before, where the star players really care about the team that much. Something like that is actually crazy. I've never heard of it before and I've never been to a Porsche. So it was definitely my first time. I didn't know Luca was into cars like that. So, yeah, him and LeBron [James]. It was nice to see them driving. Seeing LeBron behind a car is dangerous.”
At 7 feet, Ayton was asked if he was comfortable driving the car.
“Yeah, they had some machines that could hold a 7-foot man,” he said. “I don’t know if it was a custom order or if they’re made that way or if there were some other factors. But just seeing LeBron James in a sports car, I thought, ‘Hey, he knows cars.’ It was really cool to see him do his thing.”
All summer and during training camp, the Lakers talked about building team chemistry.
They talked about how working together off the court is an important part of building chemistry and learning about a teammate.
Doncic, along with James, is considered one of their leaders, and this was perceived as generous.
“Yeah, I mean, anytime some of our best players and guys that have been in the league for a while can do something for the team, it's great,” Gabe Vincent said. “It's great when we get together and do something more extravagant than we could do on our own. Everyone can walk away with something cool.” [stuff].
“The most important thing is that you can do it together, you know what I mean? Sharing experiences is one of the fastest ways to bond. So we're very grateful to Luca for doing that. Everyone had a great time. It was great to see him become more comfortable.”
Vincent also contributed to the formation of the team.
In the summer, he invited his teammates to the sand dunes in Manhattan Beach.
It was his show of leadership after so much practice and his way of helping build team chemistry.
“So I tried to just get the guys together, most of them were young guys, but just get out on the sand and play some spike ball and do some sand work,” Vincent said. “There’s a way out of this. [practice facility] building, you know what I mean? During the summer we spend so much time in the gym, doing the same workouts over and over again, that sometimes you need a change of scenery. So we need to do something different, something we can do together. We had a good time.”
Ayton is getting more comfortable.
After two preseason games and a few more practices, Ayton is starting to feel more comfortable in his role in the Lakers' offense.
In the second game against the Warriors, he took more shots, making three of eight from the field, than in the first game against the Suns, missing both shots, and scored more points against the Warriors (seven) than against the Suns (two). He blocked two shots in each game and grabbed 15 rebounds.
“How comfortable am I? Um, really comfortable when I start to understand their game, where the screens are and just the Lakers environment and Lakers basketball,” he said. “So it becomes pretty easy to just read the gender and what [Lakers coach] J.J. [Redick] what we like and what he wants to be called, especially regarding rhythm disturbances and transition disorders. So yeah, the terminology and everything gets easier and I feel like I have everything under control.”
