LeBron James 'Knows That’s Not Smart Basketball' With Luka Doncic, Says NBA Analyst

NBA analyst Chris Broussard’s latest LeBron James commentary cuts right to the tension at the center of the Lakers’ late-season surge. On one hand, Los Angeles has been winning with Luka Doncic dominating the ball, LeBron James scaling back, and the offense increasingly flowing through a younger primary engine.

On the other hand, Broussard argued that a player with LeBron’s historically elite basketball IQ cannot possibly believe that watching Luka fire 30 shots and miss two-thirds of them represents “smart basketball,” even if James understands it may currently be the Lakers’ best path to wins.

Broussard was suggesting that LeBron may see the limitations of this style even while accepting it as the most practical arrangement for a 41-year-old star on a team trying to maximize Doncic’s offensive brilliance. The Lakers have looked dangerous for stretches this month, climbing to the No. 3 seed in the West during a strong run fueled largely by Doncic’s scoring explosions and James’ willingness to do more of the connective work.

That success makes it harder to dismiss Broussard’s concern outright. Still, Broussard’s argument taps into a basketball question that goes beyond one media segment. Can the Lakers truly contend at the highest level if their offense depends on Doncic monopolizing possessions while LeBron fades into a third-option role? Or is this version of the team merely the best short-term compromise rather than a championship-proof model?

1. Chris Broussard Questions Whether LeBron James Truly Believes in Luka’s Shot Volume

Broussard suggests that LeBron’s feel for the game is too advanced for him to believe that a high-volume, lower-efficiency barrage from Doncic is ideal basketball. In Broussard’s view, James is not rejecting the system because he recognizes the physical reality of this stage of his career and the necessity of preserving himself. The criticism, then, is not about ego. It is about what LeBron likely knows versus what he currently accepts. That reframes James’ reduced role as strategic rather than purely celebratory. Recent coverage around the Lakers has emphasized LeBron’s versatility and willingness to adapt, with James functioning more often as a cutter, screener, secondary creator and situational scorer next to Doncic and Austin Reaves. The adaptation has been praised as selfless leadership, and fairly so. Broussard said, “Look, we all talk about how high his basketball IQ is, historically high. There’s no way LeBron is sitting there watching Luka shoot 30 shots and miss two-thirds of them, thinking that’s smart. I’m not saying he has any issue with Luka or anything, but he’s watching this. There’s no way he thinks that’s the best way to play basketball.” He went on, “I will say this, though. I think he realizes this is the only way they can win if I deplete myself the way Dwyane Wade did a little bit for LeBron. This is the best way we can win, but he knows that’s not smart basketball.” The friction is obvious, though. If the Lakers are winning and Doncic is producing historic scoring nights, calling it “not smart basketball” can sound counterintuitive. Yet Broussard’s warning is really about ceiling rather than floor: the method may be good enough to stack regular-season wins, but perhaps not clean enough to survive deep playoff basketball against elite defenses that punish predictability.

2. LeBron’s Reduced Role Is Helping the Lakers, But It Comes With a Visible Tradeoff

There is no question that James has adjusted. Recent reporting around the Lakers has focused on how naturally he has slid into a scaled-back offensive role, allowing Doncic to become the primary initiator while still impacting the game as a rebounder, passer and defender. For a player in his 23rd season, that flexibility is remarkable in itself. The results have often looked convincing. In a win over Houston, Doncic poured in 40 while James added an ultra-efficient 30 points on 13-of-14 shooting, a performance that showed how dangerous the pairing can be when LeBron picks his spots rather than carrying every possession. It was the kind of balance the Lakers likely envision at their best. Yet the following game against Miami highlighted the other side of the equation. Doncic erupted for 60 points and shattered the record for the most points ever scored against the Heat, while James contributed a triple-double. That stat line looks dominant on paper, but it also reinforced the reality that the Lakers increasingly tilt toward extreme Luka usage when the offense needs a headliner. That is where Broussard’s concern becomes harder to ignore. When Doncic is scorching hot, the arrangement looks devastating. When he is merely ordinary or inefficient, the offense can begin to feel overly dependent on one player forcing the issue. Broussard suggests that LeBron surely sees that fragility, even if he also sees no better immediate option. In other words, James’ reduced role is both a strength and a concession. It has made the Lakers more coherent in certain stretches, especially by conserving LeBron and clarifying who controls possessions. But it may also reveal that the team’s best working formula is, by definition, a compromise rather than a fully optimized offense.

3. Luka’s “Ball Hog” Concern Has Not Disappeared

Doncic has been one of the league’s most overwhelming offensive forces, and his recent run with the Lakers has included massive scoring outbursts, including 40 against Houston and 60 against Miami. When a player is operating at that level, high usage is not inherently a flaw. Even so, Broussard has been consistent on this point. He has described Doncic as a “Hall of Fame ball hog,” arguing that his greatness as a scorer does not erase the way he can dominate possessions and flatten the flow of an offense. The challenge for the Lakers is that Doncic’s dominance can be both the source of their ceiling and the source of their vulnerability. When his shot-making bends the game, opponents have few answers. When the volume stays high but the efficiency dips, the offense can begin to look rigid, especially if James has already accepted a lower-usage role for the sake of hierarchy. That does not mean Broussard is arguing the Lakers should take the ball out of Luka’s hands. His argument is subtler than that. He appears to be saying that a team can rely on Doncic heavily and still know, internally, that a more balanced style would be healthier if it were realistically available. And that is where LeBron becomes central to the discussion again. If James truly is the third option now, then his willingness to live with this setup is not automatically proof that he believes it is the most sophisticated brand of basketball.

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• Luka Doncic
• LeBron James