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 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.
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