For over two decades, LeBron James has been at the center of NBA conversations—whether for his on-court brilliance, his leadership, or his ability to adapt to a league that never stops evolving. Now, at age 41 and in his 23rd NBA season, James is once again redefining what it means to be a superstar, all while the Los Angeles Lakers find themselves in the thick of both praise and scrutiny. With the Lakers holding the fourth-best regular season record as of early January 2026, the team’s approach to offense—and particularly the dynamic between LeBron and new teammate Luka Doncic—has become a focal point of league-wide debate.
Gone are the days when NBA teams simply handed the ball to their best player and cleared out for isolation magic. The era of iso-ball, dominated by legends like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, and even James himself, is fading fast. In its place, movement, pace, and the pick-and-roll reign supreme. During a recent episode of the “Mind the Game” podcast, LeBron offered a candid assessment of this seismic shift. "We didn’t have this many defenses and nuances of how to play defense vs. iso, isolated players back, I would say 5-to-7 years ago. Now there’s so many different ways to get the ball out of a guy’s hands. If he’s just sitting there isoing on the wing, you can flood the whole side and bring another guy to the elbow. You could literally run a guy and just go trap him and now you got three defenders. You got the guy that’s guarding the ball, the guy that came over to trap him and you have the sideline. There’s so many different ways, and in our game of pace-and-space and rhythm, you’re out of rhythm," James explained.
LeBron’s words resonated not just as a commentary on league trends, but as a window into the Lakers’ own offensive philosophy. The Lakers, he noted, often initiate their sets with pick-and-roll action, leveraging the unique skills of Luka Doncic—a dynamic playmaker whose arrival has shifted the team’s offensive gravity. "You kinda want the ball popping or you want the trigger to happen, either by the pass or by pick-and-roll. You have a dynamic pick-and-roll player that can attract two on the ball, now you playing the 4-on-3 game, you’re playing the numbers game. That’s the game right now, it’s the numbers game. How can you start the blender. Is the Blender being started with the pass and cut. Is it what the Miami Heat are doing? Or is it what the Lakers are doing where we start a lot of our plays with pick-and-roll because we have such a dynamic pick-and-roll player in Luka," James elaborated during the podcast.
But LeBron’s frankness didn’t go unnoticed, especially when it came to his teammate Luka Doncic. This season, Doncic’s heavy reliance on isolation plays, coupled with some inefficiency and turnovers, has drawn criticism from analysts and fans alike. While James’s comments were part of a broader discussion about modern basketball, some interpreted his words as a subtle critique of Luka’s style. The implication? That isolation-heavy basketball is "not winning basketball" in today’s NBA, a pointed message for both the Lakers and the league at large.
Despite the swirling debates, the Lakers continue to thrive, in large part due to the versatility and adaptability of their veteran leader. Following the Lakers’ 120-114 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on January 4, 2026, LeBron was asked about his ability to remain so effective, even with a reduced usage rate and a supporting cast of younger stars. His response was as confident as it was revealing: "I have always been a complete basketball player. I have to be able to change the landscape of how I play up according to how our team wants to play. So I've been playing off the ball, obviously, pretty much the majority of the season. So picking spots and figuring out ways how I can still be productive to help us play winning basketball when I'm on the floor, both offensively and defensively."
James’s stat line against the Grizzlies was a testament to his enduring greatness: 26 points, 10 assists, and 7 rebounds, with 8 field goals made. But perhaps more impressive was his willingness to adapt—focusing on defense, rebounding, and spot-up shooting to complement the offensive firepower of Doncic and rising star Austin Reaves. "I don't have any holes in my game, so it helps to be able to do whatever the team needs in that particular moment," LeBron stated, underscoring his commitment to team success over personal accolades.
Luka Doncic, meanwhile, continues to put up impressive numbers. Against Memphis, he tallied 36 points, 8 assists, and 9 rebounds, reinforcing his status as one of the league’s premier talents. Yet, the ongoing dialogue about his style—and LeBron’s comments about the evolution of winning basketball—suggest the Lakers are still figuring out how to best blend their stars’ strengths for a deep playoff run.
For the Lakers, the transition from iso-ball to a more fluid, team-centric offense has not been without its growing pains. Critics have pointed to lapses in defense, inconsistent ball movement, and stretches of stagnant offense as areas for improvement. Still, with LeBron, Doncic, and Reaves all capable of creating and finishing plays, the Lakers’ offense remains one of the most versatile in the league. When things are clicking, as LeBron himself put it, "the Lakers offense is devastating when James, Doncic, and Austin Reaves can move around and operate at different areas on the court and must be accounted for as scorers and playmakers."
What sets LeBron apart, even more than his skills or stats, is his basketball IQ and willingness to evolve. "The trigger, how do you create the blender? Creating the trigger used to be where guys catch the ball at the elbow in the Karl Malone-area and catch it, face-up and jab and jab. You need it a little bit, but it’s definitely on the lower side of that pie chart now. It is not a big piece of the demographic of winning basketball, in my case. I don’t see it," he reflected. It’s a level of self-awareness that has allowed him to remain a force, even as the league gets younger and the game gets faster.
As the Lakers look ahead, the challenge will be to harness the collective talents of their stars while continuing to adapt to the ever-shifting landscape of the NBA. The scrutiny will persist, and the debates about style and substance will only intensify. But with LeBron James at the helm—still a "man amongst the boys" at 41, still a master at changing with the times—there’s every reason to believe that the Lakers will remain in the championship conversation as the season unfolds.
