The Los Angeles Lakers’ aggressive offseason overhaul has proven they’re shifting into the Luka Doncic era. But it has done little to silence skepticism of the franchise’s true championship potential. Despite Rob Pelinka pushing all his chips into the middle to construct a revamped, Luka Doncic-centric roster, prominent media voices still believe the new-look Lakers are structurally flawed.

“But my concern, I’ve said it over these airways and I’ve said it to you several times, is that the way it’s comprised in the way Luka is currently playing basketball,” Kelvin Washington said on ‘The Odd Couple’. “My concern is that he missed his window to win a championship.”

Washington referenced the last two NBA champions and their depth to point out that Doncic’s playmaking style might be outdated since the last time he played in the NBA Finals in 2024.

“Not to average 35, 37 a game, not to get in the playoffs and win a round or two like they did last year, but well, they won, you know, they won one. My concern is the style in which he plays, that era may be gone. The era of as long as I got LeBron and Kyrie, everybody else can shoot threes, play defense, we’re good. As long as I got, you know, LeBron and D-Wade and Bosh, you just rebound and then we’re good. As long as I just got Shaq and Kobe and a bunch of other guys around and you got to be deep. You’ve got to have defenders and you got to have an identity that’s going to lock in.”

Kelvin further detailed his anxieties regarding the Lakers’ age-old defensive problems and Doncic’s tendency to complain to refs.

“And I’m worried for the Lakers that Luka’s style, Luka’s lagging back on defense, complaining all the time. We know he ain’t locking up defensively. And again, just not setting that tone of like whatever it takes. That worries me.”

Referencing the depth and evolution of OKC, Spurs, and Knicks in the last two seasons, The Odd Couple couldn’t wager on the new Lakers’ lineup.

“I think Luka’s gonna fantastic as long as he’s healthy, but I don’t think they can compete right now. And I worry that if Luka doesn’t just shift his play a little bit, still be used, still be a scorer, still be a guy that has the ball a lot, but gives me effort on defense, getting back, not complaining with refs, and understanding we got to be deep and have that ball moving. I worry that that style of play, he may have missed it where you can depend on a guy or two and get it done. Right now, you’ve got to be eight, nine, 10 deep.”

Co-host Rob G acknowledged Washington’s opinion, but he said a looming fear out loud about the new-look Lakers.

LeBron James era won’t reset the standards for Luka Doncic

Apart from LeBron James’ exit, the Lakers have purged Marcus Smart, Deandre Ayton Luke Kennard, Rui Hachimura and have still more on the chopping block. Yet no analyst, including The Odd Couple, can confidently say they’re a better team after over $250 million worth of signings.

The basic expectations attached to the purple-and-gold brand have always been championships. Rob G expanded on the standard governing the franchise and the steep cost paid to satisfy their superstar’s wishes.

“What I’m concerned about is like you said in Los Angeles, we’re not in the business of being very good. We’re not in the business of being a playoff team. Like Coop [Michael Cooper] said, the Lakers are in the business of championships. And if you had told me or asked me two years ago, you would have asked me two years ago, even after losing in the finals, man, how many is Luka going to win? Because he’s already got to the precipice. They lost. It was a tough loss. Happens to everybody. He’s going to break through eventually. You would have said, man, I probably said they over two and a half. He’s that good, right?”

But OKC, Spurs, and Knicks’ recent surge against odds has altered Rob G’s perspective and has him question, “Well, damn, is Luka Doncic ever going to win an NBA championship?”

Looking at Doncic’s resume as an All-NBA player through his first eight seasons, which outmatched Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry, the analysts are skeptical about the Lakers’ moves.

They’ve signed Walker Kessler, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Kevon Looney, Collin Sexton, Quentin Grimes, and Ziaire Williams, selected Cameron Carr in the draft, and guaranteed Austin Reaves and Bronny James.

Yet, given the pressure in LA, an expensive gamble can backfire. Even Rob G, a notorious critic of the LeBron Lakers, says, “We got the one chip, which was great. We’re also a laughing stock for two of the eight seasons. The Russell Westbrook era was a disaster. We missed the playoffs entirely twice. It is entirely possible if the gauge is championships, which is what it is in LA, that the Luka era is going to be worse than the LeBron era because for all of the drama and the roller coasterness of the LeBron era, they got the championship. They got one. They made the Western Finals another year.”

Given the LeBron era is still in recent memory, Rob says, “I can’t say definitively that Luka Doncic is even going to make the Western Finals with the Lakers, given what we’ve seen around him. So, it’s a very uneasy feeling.”

This just proves that Luka Doncic’s new look Lakers have a lot to prove.