3 moves the Lakers can make to win the NBA title this year with Luka Doncic

If you're reading this, congratulations for not dying of shock when you heard that Luka Doncic had been traded to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis. I barely survived it, myself.

The NBA has had some "where were you when it happened" moves, such as the Malice at the Palace, LeBron taking his talents to South Beach and the night Blake Griffin barricaded DeAndre Jordan's door shut. This trade feels like it transcended the NBA though. We're talking OJ's white Bronco chase, Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars kind of stuff.

This is one of those things that is going to take a long time to sink in. Lakers fans are justifiably ecstatic. Mavs fans are so despondent that the team's Instagram page supposedly lost over 700,000 followers since the news broke.

Anthony Davis is a great player, and the shame of this deal is that because everyone is so pro-Lakers about it, it makes it seem like AD is just some bum that got thrown in. Nothing can be further from the truth. Davis was a phenomenal player in L.A. He helped the Lakers win a title, and he was on the periphery of the MVP race with how well he's played this year. It's going to be weird seeing him in another uniform.

It'll be even weirder to see Doncic wearing purple and gold, but the shock of that should wear off the first time he puts up a 40-10-10 line. There's really no way to oversell how great this trade is for L.A. long-term. The Lakers have been playing great basketball lately, but given LeBron James' age and the fact that centers tend not to age so well, Lakers fans knew that a reckoning was coming within the next year or two. At some point a big red reset button was going to need to be pushed, and it would probably take a year or two to recover.

This being the Lakers, they've managed to pull the rabbit out of the hat yet again, just as they've done for half a century. Even when LeBron does eventually retire, the team is set for the next decade. Luka is 25 (turning 26 this month), and clearly one of the top five players in the NBA, and as long as he's in town, the Lakers' floor will be extremely high, regardless of who's around him.

There's also another factor to consider, namely that Luka is one of the most hyper-competitive guys in the league. I can still see him screaming in Rudy Gobert's face after roasting him in the Western Conference Finals last year. This is a guy that you DO NOT MESS WITH. And yet the Mavericks just put a Texas-sized chip on his shoulder, not only by trading him, but by leaking that their reasoning in doing so was because of his conditioning issues. I fully expect Luka to go on a revenge spree not seen since Beatrix Kiddo in Kill Bill or John Matrix in Commando.

Lakers fans are right to celebrate this trade for the way it paved the way for the team to be great for the next decade. What about right now though? Luka and LeBron together are sure to work magic, but from a roster balancing standpoint, there's a gaping hole at center now that AD is in Dallas. The team also lost Max Christie, who was playing extremely well in the last month in an expanded role.

Whether you have a center or not, when you have LeBron and Luka on the same team, you have to be thinking championship. The Lakers' title odds were 41-1 before the trade, and 21-1 after it. They may not be the favorites, but they have more than a puncher's chance right now. What can they do to maximize their chances at a ring? Let's look at three moves they can make, both on and off the court.

1. Trade for Myles Turner

One of the ironic things about this trade is that Anthony Davis just recently said that he plays better when he's a 4. In Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively, now he has two centers in Dallas so that he can do just that.

The idea in saying that was that he wanted the Lakers to trade for a center, but now that monkey-pawed him to the DFW, that need is exponentially magnified for L.A. Without AD in the fold though, the calculus has to change a bit. Whereas someone like Jonas Valanciunas is a guy that could have made sense next to Davis (since Davis could provide the rim protection), now he would seem out of place on this roster.

The Lakers need a center that can make a defensive impact. Walker Kessler would be great if the Jazz are willing to play ball again after being the third wheel in the Luka deal, but it's been reported that their asking price is high, and rightly so given Kessler's age and ability to block shots.

In light of that, how about Myles Turner? Our own Joseph Kallan made the suggestion on Sunday, and it's a good one. The Pacers center is also a shot-blocking terror around the rim, but unlike Kessler, he has a more versatile offensive game, and he can even space the floor by knocking down threes. He's not Anthony Davis, offensively or defensively, but he's an enormous upgrade over Jaxson Hayes and Christian Koloko, and he might trail only CJ McCollum over the course of his career for the number of times his name has been entered into the Trade Machine.

It felt like the Lakers were reluctant to pull off a super splashy move and mortage the future for short-term satisfaction. Now that the future is secure with Luka, it makes more sense to take a bigger swing to win now, as well.

2. Scale back LeBron's workload

LeBron showed in Saturday night's win at Madison Square Garden that he's still capable of doing incredible things. The Knicks are one of the best teams in the NBA, and they've been playing phenomenally lately, but the 40-year-old still put up a 33-point triple-double in 37 minutes.

There will come a day when LeBron no longer has it, but today is not that day. If he can beat one of the hottest teams in the NBA on the road without Davis, who was still out with an abdominal strain, anything is possible this year, especially now that Luka is joining him.

There have been two criticisms of Luka throughout his career. One is his conditioning, which is overblown because whether he's in shape or not, he still might be the second-best player in the league. The other is that he's too ball-dominant.

Luka showed last year with Kyrie Irving that he doesn't have to dominate every possession, and with good pieces around him, the Mavs went all the way to the Finals. Now that he's in L.A. with LeBron and Austin Reaves, the need for him to be such a heliocentric player is lessened even more.

This presents a golden opportunity for head coach JJ Redick to get LeBron the rest he needs to be in peak form for the playoffs. Luka can bring the ball up and initiate the offense, and if he's sitting, Reaves can. LeBron can and should take a step back to charge his batteries.

Redick has done a good job of limiting his aging superstar to under 35 minutes a game so far, but there's more room to work with now. Take him down under 32 to keep him fresh. Give him a night off when the Wizards or the Jazz come to town.

The Lakers are fifth in the West with a 28-19 record. Everything going forward needs to be about maximizing their odds of making a postseason run, and lessening LeBron's workload would do just that.

3. Shoot more 3s

Last week, I advocated for the Lakers to shoot more 3s as one way to survive being without Anthony Davis for a week. They were below their season average in shooting 32 against the Wizards, but that game was over in the first half. Against the Knicks, it was bombs away to the tune of 41 attempts from deep,19 of which they made. Only three teams average more than 41 three attempts this year, so that was more like it.

Now that AD is gone and Luka is here (too bad I didn't predict that one!), the way the Lakers play is inevitably going to change, and I would argue that they should lean even further into embracing the 3. Luka shoots a ton himself, but the way he is able to command such attention and manipulate a defense should give everyone else on the team more wide-open spot-up looks than they know what to do with.

Dorian Finney-Smith could be a prime beneficiary, as he's heating up after his 5-of-6 performance from 3 against the Knicks. Dalton Knecht will also love playing with Luka, and we shouldn't be surprised to see him running the baseline and spotting up in the corner now.

LeBron and Reaves will also be helped immeasurably by Luka's presence, both in the open looks they'll get from outside and the driving lanes Luka will create by drawing the defense toward him.

Only three teams shoot fewer 3s per game than the Lakers right now. In the second half of the season, don't be surprised if L.A. is in the top half of the league.