Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves opened up about his partnership with Luka Doncic for the upcoming NBA season.
Reaves and Doncic formed one of the most potent backcourt pairings in the NBA last season, averaging a combined 56.8 points, 13.6 assists, and 11.8 rebounds over the 2025-26 NBA season.
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With LeBron James leaving the team and increasing the on-ball load for Doncic and Reaves in 2026-27, it’s crucial that the two Lakers guards stay on the same page the entire season.
Reaves spoke to ESPN LA on Lakers media day about his partnership with Doncic and how he can help be the co-star Doncic needs on the team before revealing their biggest on-court communication issue.
“The hardest part is to understand his English on the court. He gets to talking fast, speaking in Slovenian, Serbian. He speaks four languages. Sometimes I’m looking at him and was like, ‘English. I need English.'”
Reaves and Doncic have a strong relationship on and off the court, with Doncic’s presence being one of the main reasons Reaves did not want to leave the Lakers in free agency.
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Doncic’s status as a polyglot makes it easy to bridge international barriers, but his English-only-speaking teammates might struggle with his accent and constant switching between languages.
Doncic has had multiple winning seasons with an American star in the backcourt with him, including tenures alongside Jalen Brunson and Kyrie Irving, so this should not be a major issue.
The Doncic-Reaves duo will carry a huge offensive burden on the Lakers this season, so the communication between the pair needs to be immaculate for maximum success.
Losing LeBron might harm the connection between the pair, as James was the perfect third-option bridge between them, but his absence might force the pair to embrace bigger roles and empower a rotation of role players to step up and maximise their opportunity.
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