“Luka, be your f—— self. Don’t fit in, fit the f— out,” LeBron James said, clearly stating what he wants to see from Luka Doncic minutes before his Lakers debut on Monday. Sure, the Slovenian Sensation looked a bit rusty not having played in an NBA game since Christmas Day due to a calf injury. But he showed glimpses of greatness with some elite passes and tough buckets. But Celtics legend Paul Pierce believes it might be a sign for LBJ to take a backseat and pass the torch to Doncic for the bigger picture—something he could not do with Anthony Davis.

Addressing the Lakers’ potential following the Luka-LeBron team up, Pierce said, “If they wanna do some damage in the playoffs, he got to give it to him right now. He (LeBron) got to give him (Luka) the keys right now.” Throughout his career, LBJ has held the reins of every team he has been a part of. Of course, it made sense, as he was the best player on all those teams. Even during his tenure with AD, LeBron remained the primary option despite Davis being a younger superstar.

“It’s been LeBron’s team because AD didn’t wanna take control of the keys,” Pierce pointed out. But for the first time ever, James might no longer be the best player on his team. “You got a guy who’s been like that from Day one. A guy who just led his team to the Finals.”

As great as James has been at age 40, Luka is clearly a better scorer and arguably a better playmaker than him at this stage. Even Pierce believes it. “LeBron’s a great passer. I think Luka is even better than him. I think he makes players better around him than LeBron.” Just last season, he averaged 33.9 points and nearly ten assists. More importantly, Luka Doncic has proven with the Mavs that he can lead a franchise to success.

So, passing the Lakers’ keys to him might be the right move for LBJ. Moreover, it could end up benefiting the four-time champ and his team, as Pierce highlighted: “You can’t ask LeBron to keep doing these things at the age of 40. Luka is here to take pressure off LeBron throughout the regular season. So maybe LeBron has some legs come playoff time.”

For the past couple of seasons, James has been great during the regular season, but the constant fatigue at this age has repeatedly slowed him down in the postseason. As a result, the LA franchise has not had much success since winning the Bubble Championship. But Luka’s addition might be the solution to that problem as he can now control the reins during the regular season, helping the 21x All-Star stay healthier for the high-stake games from April to June.

And it looks like ‘King James’ might already have bought into that idea.

LeBron James’ wholesome gesture for Luka Doncic could be a sign of good things to come for Lakers

The first step to handing the reins to another player is sacrificing control. Turns out, LeBron James has already made that move as he let Luka decide the order of player introductions upon his debut. Sure enough, the former Mavs star decided to go last so that he could fully soak in his first moments wearing the Purple and Gold.

He even thanked LBJ for giving him that opportunity. “He let me have my moment, so I really appreciate it.” However, he revealed that things will go back to usual from upcoming games, “I mean, today, he lent me this one. But from now on, he’ll be the last.” But what if he wasn’t? What if this was a sign that LeBron is ready to put Luka in the driver’s seat while he enjoys the view as a secondary option for the first time in his career?

Well, that would make the LA franchise a legitimate threat to win it all because no team would want to face the duo of Luka Magic and a healthy LeBron come playoff time. Do you think LeBron should hand the keys to Luka for a better chance at glory?