LeBron James is gone, and the Lakers are not pretending there is a single player who can simply take his place.
Instead, the team’s next chapter is being framed around a redistribution of responsibility — with Luka Doncic absorbing the emotional weight of James’ departure and Austin Reaves stressing the day-to-day work that comes with a bigger role. The transition is as much about leadership and self-management as it is about points, assists or minutes.
Doncic did not hide how he felt when James signed with the Philadelphia 76ers on a two-year deal for his 24th and 25th NBA seasons.
“It was kind of sad. Playing with LeBron was amazing. There’s a lot of things I learned from him,” Doncic said.
That reaction matters because James was not just another veteran in the locker room. He was the star around which everyone else orbited, the player who shaped the Lakers’ identity and the one whose nightly production — roughly 20 points, six rebounds and five assists per game — came with the intangible burden of organizing everything around him. Now that burden has to be spread out.
Doncic has already made clear where he sees the next phase going. After James headed East, he spoke about the Lakers being unequivocally his team, and he has also said the situation is familiar to him.
“I was in this position in my career a lot of times, so it’s not new to me,” Doncic said.
That is the challenge for the Lakers now: not replacing James with one player, but building a structure where more of the load is shared. Doncic and Reaves are the two names most directly attached to that task.
Reaves, coming off a career-best season in which he averaged 23.3 points, 5.5 assists and 4.7 rebounds, is approaching the responsibility from a different angle. He was limited to 51 regular-season games and missed four playoff outings because of injuries, and that experience has pushed him to focus on his body as he prepares for another long season.
He has also been specific about how he leads.
“People lead in different ways. I’m not someone that’s going to sit out here and scream at people. I like to talk to people one-on-one, have a real conversation,” Reaves said.
That approach fits the way he says he tries to operate in practice, where he’ll pull teammates aside to talk through improvements. It also fits a roster that is trying to adjust to life after a player who dominated the room simply by being LeBron James.
Reaves has said he learned from watching James every day, especially the habits that allowed him to keep playing at the highest level. That lesson now comes with a practical edge: if the Lakers are going to get through a season without James, Reaves has to be available for it.
The same is true for Doncic, whose own 2025-26 season ended early when he suffered a left hamstring strain less than two weeks before the start of the playoffs. Before any games are played, the Lakers are already asking him to set the tone.
And the tone is not being described as one voice barking orders. It is being described as a partnership.
Doncic and Reaves are among the league’s most dynamic backcourts, and the Lakers’ offense is expected to lean heavily on them. But the bigger question is whether that pairing can also supply the leadership James once provided nightly — not by imitation, but by division of labor.
For now, the Lakers’ post-LeBron identity is taking shape in two very different ways: Doncic processing the loss of a teammate he admired, and Reaves preparing his body and his voice for a larger role. That is the reality of the transition. The Lakers are not looking for one replacement. They are asking two players to carry what used to belong to one.