5 takeaways from the Lakers' undefeated start to the season

After a great opening night win over the Timberwolves, the Lakers picked up two more wins on either side of back-to-back games, first overcoming a 22-point deficit before defeating the Kings with a 21-point victory led by LeBron James . 0 Blitz at the start of the 4th quarter.

So the Lakers are 3-0 for the first time since the 2010-11 season, when Kobe and Pau took the lead on the court and Phil Jackson paced the sideline – or actually sat in his elevated chair. Since then, the Lakers have gone through seven coaches, finally landing on JJ Redick and his obsessive attention to detail, which has clearly taken hold on a nearly identical group of players who had started the season 1-2 just a season earlier.

However, as Anthony Davis said after Saturday's win over Sacramento, this is a different Lakers team and they are eager to show the league exactly that. And if they get a few more together on their five-game road trip, maybe they'll just start making believers out of even more people.

Before that, though, here are five (mostly positive) observations about the Lakers through these candid three Ws.

Dominant AD

There aren't enough superlatives to describe Anthony Davis' play early in the year, but he's playing like one of the best players in the world and putting up numbers that put him on par with some of the Lakers' all-time greats.

Against the Wolves, he was dominant on both ends, scoring 36 points and grabbing 16 rebounds while blocking three shots and wreaking havoc on defense. Against the Suns the rebounding wasn't quite as great, but the scoring was still there as he added 35 more points with two more blocks and a steal.

And against the Kings there were 31 more points, nine more rebounds, two blocks and three steals. He also totaled 10 assists through the three games, connected on two of his five three-point attempts, shot 57.1% from the field overall and punished teams down the field en route to 15 free throw attempts per night.

I don't know if Davis will continue to score as well as he has – a lot of that will depend on how quickly his jumper goes in and whether he can continue to go to the foul line as often – but I can say this is what he has been doing for a long time now one year as a player. His numbers are up because he's getting more opportunities, which is directly related to this coaching staff being very intentional about using him and AD's teammates executing those plans.

But don't confuse this kind of productivity with him returning to an earlier version of himself. No. Davis has been this way for some time.

Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images

LeBron is feeling his way through

Through the first 11 quarters of the season, one might well have wondered if LeBron was showing a slight decline in his 22nd season as he neared his 40th birthday. He didn't create a lead in the post or through offense as consistently, missed more shots down the field than we're used to, and despite a few highlight plays, seemed a little less explosive than he did on even a few months ago at the Olympics Play.

And then LeBron scored 16 points in just under three minutes of play and practically turned an entire game around on his own. This brings me to the larger point; LeBron may actually be showing more signs of his age, but I would argue that those signs are more a result of him holding things back and understanding the risks of trying to overuse these aspects of his game than his Game actually slows down when he dials in and tries to make something happen.

In other words, LeBron looks more like a player who is finding his way through these games, carefully assessing what he thinks is needed at any given moment, rather than someone who has taken some major step back as a player.

And maybe that's obvious. Or maybe it's easier to say after the kind of explosion he showed against the Kings. In any case, it seems clear to me that Bron is willing to try to do less, or more precisely, that he is willing to do it with less physical effort rather than push the limits.

Austin's jump a year later?

Austin Reaves enters the 2023-24 season as the Lakers' third-best player and someone who, if you just start listing random achievements where everyone you level up, the prestige or plain old difficulty jumps up a notch , I wonder how far we could get this before we rule it out completely.

I mean, let's try…

Austin Reaves is having a 50/40/90 season (last season he was 52.9/38.9/86.4).

Austin Reaves averaged 6+ assists per game (last season his average was 3.4).

Austin Reaves averaged more than 18 points per game (last season he averaged 13.0).

Austin Reaves makes the All-Star team

The latter seems to be a real challenge, but the others are certainly within the realm of possibility. And let me tell you: If Reaves averages 18 and 6 on 50/40/90 shooting, the Lakers are going to be one hell of a basketball team. And if the Lakers are this good, the Finals doesn't seem too far out of reach.

I wrote the above in the Austin Reaves season preview capsule a little over a year ago. And while Austin had a good 2023-24 season, it fell short of every statistical benchmark I set.

Make no mistake, averaging 15.9 points and 5.5 assists on 48.6/36.7/85.3 shooting splits is pretty damn good. It's just not the jump that some of Reaves' more optimistic supporters believed was entirely within his grasp.

Well, it's entirely possible that the leap I thought might be coming last year is now here. Yes, it's only three games, but Reaves' current averages are 18.0 points and 6.0 assists on 55.3/43.8/71.4 shooting splits. He's basically hitting every level I said he could reach last year, except for his free throw percentage.

There is also a comfort and confidence that Reaves plays with that is palpable. He's obviously in really good shape and has his legs under him.

But more than that, he has mastered his own game and the performance required of him in the team's offense, which impacts his own performance and that of his teammates. He's also playing more consistently on defense again, showing the courage, hustle and attention to detail that were key to how he carved out a role as a rookie under Frank Vogel.

Max's struggles

If Austin looks good early in the year, Max Christie is on the other end of the spectrum, especially on offense. Again, any caveats about sample size are acknowledged: Max opened the year shooting just two of his first eight shots, including one of his first six three-pointers.

He is the team's worst player with minus 42 points in the penalty area, but that's not just thanks to him. But part of the problem with these groups is that they can't score, at least because he doesn't take shots and his offense is a bit stodgy within the team's structure.

He handles in-box passes well, has made some quick trigger threes, forced some drives, and in general his playmaking and ball-handling just isn't at a level where he seems ready to do much else on offense other than a jumper to shoot or catch the ball in one shot where he can try to hit the basket with force.

On the other hand, his defense was way ahead of his offense and he was neutral at worst and very good on multiple possessions. He's gotten into some foul trouble at times, but he stays true to his man, especially doing a good job of containing the dribble at the point of attack and working really hard to win the ball all over the court, navigating screens etc. Apply pressure in his individual fight.

So it's not all bad with Max and I would say his defense should continue to give him chances. Still, it would be really nice if his offense worked soon. And it would be even nicer if he didn't want to make so much of the dribble and was just a bit quicker in decision making when it comes to shooting/passing decisions, including how and where to move the ball when the first jumper is not there.

These are things that will come with more time and reps, and it's important to remember Max's general lack of experience here, but a good game soon would go a long way for him.

Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images

On the fire bench group

In the Lakers' win over the Kings, the five-man group of D'Angelo Russell, Dalton Knecht, LeBron, Rui Hachimura and Jaxson Hayes were absolutely fantastic on both shifts, with their time together in the fourth quarter completely turning the game around and making putts for the Lakers were back in control after trailing by seven. This group achieved a +31 lead in just 9 minutes of play, outscoring the Kings 37-6 in that period.

For the season, this group is a +33 in 19 minutes, so in the 10 other minutes they have played together they are “only” a +2. And while that number pales in comparison to what they did against the Kings, I don't think it should be overlooked that these very early returns show a Lakers lineup that can thrive even without Anthony Davis on the court is when he takes his normal break in the second and fourth quarters.

This is no small feat and, if it continues, would be a wonderful and much-needed lineup solution for parts of the game where the Lakers can struggle, particularly on defense. Because while it's clear that this unit will turn heads offensively, it's their ability to score points that will help build their halfcourt defense, where they have great positional size and plenty of athleticism with Bron, Hayes, Rui and Knecht. This group can transition, they can really go to the perimeter to block shots, and then they can rebound to advance the ball in transition.

Against the Kings, it wasn't just Bron's insane shooting that stood out, but also how often they were able to make plays in the open court, how LeBron's attack in transition was aided by the spaces created by the shooters, and how Bron could then create that space use to either get to the rim themselves or squirt the ball at them for open shots.

Yes, the sample is small, but this group did some serious damage to the Kings and showed what a ceiling they can hit when they're firing on all cylinders.

You can follow Darius on Twitter at @forumbluegold.