It's a little strange to ask whether Luka Doncic can lead an NBA Finals-caliber team, considering he did exactly that two years ago. No, those Mavericks didn't finish the job, falling to the Celtics in five games, but if you can go to the Finals, you can win it. That seems like common sense to me.
Yet, with the 2025-26 Lakers scuffling around at "good" and seldom looking "great," the discussion of how good a Luka-led team can be has, for some reason, popped back up. On a recent episode of First Take, ESPN NBA reporter Brian Windhorst shared a similar sentiment:
"You can't just say that just because a guy can't defend, he can't lead a championship, because we all know Luka can't defend.