Trio ready to rock again, but it may need fine-tuning

Return of James gives Lakers lift as dynamic of Doncic and Reaves will be altered some.

- THỤC NHI NGUYEN

AUSTIN REAVES has developed chemistry with Luka Doncic while averaging a 28.3 points a game.

The Lakers went 3-2 during an uneven trip that ended on a high note with back-to-back wins in New Orleans and Milwaukee.

After getting thrashed by Oklahoma City in Game 3 of the five-game trip, Marcus Smart said the team was starting to show its fatigue on the road.

But, similar to my favorite colleague Brad Turner picking up the travel slack with me, the Lakers also have reinforcements.

Now what?

Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic established themselves as one of the league’s most dynamic duos while powering the shorthanded Lakers to a 10-4 record. With LeBron James officially back on the Lakers' practice court, he could make this three a real party.

"I'm a ballplayer," James said Monday after his first full practice with the team this year. "... There's not one team, not one club in the world that I cannot fit in and play for. I can do everything on the floor. So whatever this team needs me to do, I can do it when I'm back to myself." Despite the encouraging start that has the team fourth in the West, the Lakers are not modern basketball's statistical darling.

They play slowly (19th in pace), take the fourthfewest three-pointers in the league while making the second-worst percentage and have the third-most turnovers per game. James, who still stopped short of saying he is pain-free from right sciatica, is unlikely to be an immediate solution to any of those problems.

Yet he is the NBA's alltime leading scorer.