Lakers have a LeBron James-Luka Doncic problem in the weirdest way

When the Los Angeles Lakers shocked the NBA nearly a year ago and traded for Luka Doncic, everyone wanted to know what he'd look like on the court with LeBron James.

They're two of the most skilled, talented players to ever play basketball, so it seemed like after an adjustment period, they'd figure things out and do awesome things alongside one another.

Except in the year since, something quite odd has happened.

When the Lakers play with Doncic in the game but not James, they outscore their opponents pretty substantially.

The same thing happens when the Lakers have James in the game but not Doncic.

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But when both are on the floor together this season, the Lakers get outscored, and when both are off the floor, they also get outscored.

You'd expect the last part of that. When both superstars sit, the Lakers simply have a weaker lineup.

But the plan would not have been to be a negative lineup with both in the game. 

Here's how that looks in a chart:

yeah idk what you do about this man pic.twitter.com/UTbz46cqrk

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There are little tweaks Lakers coach JJ Redick could make to his lineup sequencing to help the cause here, but it really feels like a case of LeBron and Luka having to figure it out.

It doesn't benefit L.A. to have James play some sort of sixth-man role just to avoid having him on the floor with Doncic.

In the biggest games, the Lakers will want Luka and LeBron both on the floor down the stretch. Their team is constructed to rely on both of them.

But if they don't figure it out, then the Lakers' ceiling may be lowered substantially by this odd reality.

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