Lakers’ Luka Doncic roasts Rui Hachimura for LeBron James copycat attempt

The Los Angeles Lakers have righted the ship over the last two games with blowout victories over the Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings. During Sunday’s win over Sacramento, Luka Doncic led the way for the Lakers with 28 points to go along with five rebounds and nine assists.

In recent weeks, the Lakers have established a pregame routine centering around LeBron James, one which Rui Hachimura attempted to imitate on Sunday, as reported by Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

“Rui Hachimura took LeBron James’ place in the Lakers’ pregame ritual by throwing the ball up towards the rafters and catching it off the bounce, to signal a simultaneous team squat,” reported McMenamin on X, formerly Twitter.

“Never again. Never again. He was terrible,” joked Doncic after the game.

Hachimura had a relatively quiet game, with just eight points on Sunday, so perhaps that will be the end of him trying to take over James’ pregame routine.

Meanwhile, the Lakers are certainly happy to be in a soft stretch of schedule at the current juncture, after recently drawing immense concern from the fanbase for tough last-second losses to the Orlando Magic and Phoenix Suns, which were preceded by a blowout home loss against the Boston Celtics.

Los Angeles currently sits at 36-24 on the season, and would be in the Western Conference playoffs if the season ended today. However, immense concern still exists about the Lakers’ lack of perimeter defenders, as well as their deficiencies in shooting the ball from outside.

The fact that they are still 12 games above the .500 mark despite these glaring weaknesses says a lot about the offensive firepower that Doncic, James, and Austin Reaves have been able to provide this year.

In any case, the Lakers are next set to take the floor on Tuesday evening at home against the New Orleans Pelicans.

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