Emmanuel Acho on why LeBron James and Luka Doncic can't win the NBA championship together
However, there are still doubts about how great the Lakers can be, mainly because of their shortcomings on the defensive end. They lack two-way players, and Doncic and LeBron James aren't great defenders for various reasons. Neither is Austin Reaves, who is their third-best player.
On Fox Sports 1's "The Facility," former NFL linebacker Emmanuel Acho said that James needs to leave the Lakers after this coming season if they are to win the NBA championship because he and Doncic are weak defenders.
"This has to be LeBron's last year if the Lakers want to win anything of significance," Acho said. "You can't win a championship right now — or, at least, it would be very hard to win with Luka and LeBron on the court at the same time because neither of them at this point are defensive juggernauts.
"... I don't see the coexistence of LeBron and Luka and championships," Acho said.
The Lakers were a strong defensive team for a period of time this past season, especially in February as Doncic got himself integrated with them. But after the All-Star break, they ranked just 17th in defensive rating, and in the playoffs, they were 12th in that category among the 16th teams that made it there.
Los Angeles will likely be a very strong offensive team, if not an offensive juggernaut, this coming season. But it will have to overcome plenty defensively to get the job done in the postseason.
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