At the NBA level,

speed kills.

We love watching players going end-to-end in transition. Unfortunately, not every team can get the best ball-handlers and best athletes to get out in transition. Most teams have one guy, whether it’s Russell Westbrook from the Oklahoma City Thunder or Stephen Curry for the Golden State Warriors. LeBron James hasn’t been on the fastest NBA teams, but he has bought into the offensive philosophy. He isn’t doing it alone.

The Big Change

Within one year, the Lakers made a drastic change by hiring Luke Walton. Back during the 2015-2016 season under Coach Byron Scott, the Lakers were 16th in the league in pace at 96.6 possessions per game. A year later under Coach Luke Walton, the Lakers finished 5th in the league at 99.3 possessions per game. Pushing the ball became core to the offensive philosophy.

Once the Lakers were able to acquire the talent to build upon that philosophy with Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, and Josh Hart, the Lakers finished the season 3rd in the league at 101.0 possessions per game. But Lonzo Ball missed 31 games. The Lakers were the league leader in pace until Lonzo got hurt. From the start of the season until January 31st, they were #1 in pace, ranked above the Golden State Warriors at 101.4 to 101.1 possessions per game.

In fact, as a reference point of how fast the league is getting, the 96.6 possessions per game back in the ’15-’16 season would have ranked the Lakers 27th in the league, dropping the team 11 places overall.

The Talent to Do It

Since then, the Lakers have made a few acquisitions that make the team even faster. LeBron James and Rajon Rondo have been the primary catalysts to the Lakers’ blistering pace. According to NBA.com, the Laker starters with 134 combined minutes play with the top pace of all NBA teams in the preseason at 185.4. The next closest team is the Golden State Warriors with 109 combined starter minutes at 179.6.

Here is a quick example of where having two players with point guard vision can push pace, even in semi-transition. Despite the defense being mostly set, McGee gets a wide open dunk at the rim.

powered by Advanced iFrame free. Get the Pro version on CodeCanyon.

The simple act of Rondo passing the ball to James at the center of the floor draws defensive attention here. Look how Millsap is already engaged on LeBron 70 feet away from the hoop. By the time LeBron crosses half court, Torrey Craig already commits to LeBron, leaving Brandon Ingram open. The rest speaks for itself.

powered by Advanced iFrame free. Get the Pro version on CodeCanyon.

Here is a secondary fast break started by LeBron, pushed by Rondo, and completed by Josh Hart. This wasn’t possible for the Lakers last year, even with Ingram’s and Randle’s improving playmaking abilities.

powered by Advanced iFrame free. Get the Pro version on CodeCanyon.

Rondo and LeBron can run the fast break themselves, even with the defense matched up. And LeBron’s ability to step into 3-pointers, just like this one, forces that early engagement of defenders that allows him to blow by the defense.

powered by Advanced iFrame free. Get the Pro version on CodeCanyon.

It’s these kind of plays that have allowed the Lakers to be among the league leaders in transition points. Acquiring LeBron James and Rajon Rondo added an extra dimension to the Lakers’ transition game with their ball-handling, vision, passing, and decision-making to make the team even faster. They’re more likely to take advantage of secondary transition opportunities with defenders mostly set. Considering the new faces for the team, the youth on the roster, and the playmaking ability of the team, the Lakers will be able to get a few more wins on transition play alone.

And while LeBron and Rondo will help enable the Lakers to run slightly even more than before, perhaps their larger impact will be to boost the team’s transition efficiency, which ranked just 22nd last season. To put this in perspective, if the Lakers last season had the same number of transition possessions but scored at the same efficiency as the 7th ranked Cavaliers, they’d have scored 2.6 more points per game. From an offensive points per possession standpoint, that’d raise their overall offensive efficiency up 6 spots from 24th to 18th.

Is This Pace Sustainable?

The simple answer is no. These are absurd pace rates and LeBron James never got close to playing over 36 minutes per game. The 82-game season is just too long. Specific opponent matchups and potential health related issues will eventually slow things down. But considering the trend of the past two seasons, it is fair to expect over 100 possessions per game.

How Fast Can the Lakers Play?

The Lakers are a unique team. They have three guys that lead transition opportunities in different ways.

LeBron James is a freight train down the middle of the paint and finishing. Last season, he ranked 3rd in the league at 6.5 transition points per game and 3rd in transition possessions per game at 5.5 alongside players that played over 50 games last season.

Rajon Rondo excels at setting up a big in the paint and opening up three point shots in semi-transition. The Pelicans were ranked 5th in the league in pace at 100.6 possessions per game until DeMarcus Cousins got hurt. After that date, the Pelicans jumped to 1st in pace with 103.0 possessions per game.

The third unique transition player the Lakers have this season, and hopefully for a full season, is Lonzo Ball. Ball skips both of those ideas and throws transition passes like a quarterback. He has already helped the team become top three in the league in pace overall. It’s mouth-watering thinking about what he can do now that he has LeBron and Rondo to play alongside.

Fortunately for the Lakers, there’s still more transition upside to unravel. LeBron James and Rajon Rondo have been great in transition, but the Lakers have just recently gotten Lonzo Ball back in the lineup, and he’s coming off the bench. This helps the bench maintain similar pace to the starting lineup. One can’t help but wonder, what if Lonzo Ball played alongside LeBron and Rondo? What would the pace look like then? Would that be enough talent to get ahead of the Golden State Warriors?

A lineup with those three players involved would have a great shot at being #1 in the league in pace. And if the Laker half court offensive is as schematically deficient and stagnant as it was in preseason, whether for 5 games or 82, maximizing these transition opportunities will be key for the team’s offense.

Hopefully, we’ll get a chance to see that this season. I’m definitely looking forward to it.

*pace and efficiency data provided by https://stats.nba.com/*