The Los Angeles Lakers began Luka Dončić’s tenure with a win then followed it up with a loss on Wednesday, snapping a six-game winning streak and leaving them with some questions to answer.
The Utah Jazz defeated the Lakers 131-119, though the more notable number was a 54-36 points in the paint discrepancy. Swapping out Anthony Davis for Dončić left the team short on a quality big man, an issue the Mark Williams trade was supposed to address until the Lakers scrapped the trade due to medical reasons.
That left the Lakers with two rotation-worthy traditional big men entering Wednesday: Jaxson Hayes and Alex Len, the latter of whom was signed on the buyout market the day before. Hayes left the game Wednesday with a facial contusion after playing seven minutes. Len posted four points on 2-of-5 shooting with seven rebounds in 23 minutes.
Landing Dončić was undoubtedly a coup for the Lakers because of how the 25-year-old All-NBA first-teamer transforms their long-term outlook, but in the short term they need to figure out how to make their current big man rotation work.
Dončić finished the game with 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting, four assists, four rebounds and five turnovers.
