Brian Windhorst Reveals Only Way Lakers Can Win with Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves

The Lakers were briskly manhandled by the bigger, longer Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs, with Jaxson Hayes (now a free agent, and seemingly unlikely to return to town) installed as the team's starting five to kick off that series.

Los Angeles' defense was patchy elsewhere. The team's three best players — Doncic, 21-time All-Star forward LeBron James, and guard Austin Reaves — are all great ball handlers and scorers but limited defenders, leading to a porous perimeter presence on that end.

While appearing on a Thursday morning installment of ESPN's "Get Up" to discuss the Lakers' $10 billion team sale, longtime LeBron James insider Brian Windhorst explained how Los Angeles can survive if it opts to keep Doncic, 26, and Reaves, 27, together for the long-term.

"If they're going to be committed to playing Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves together, in other words they're going to keep those guys on the perimeter, they're just going to need more interior defense — because those guys are susceptible on the outside," Windhorst suggested. "So they need somebody who can defend, it doesn't have to be a blockbuster trade, but they need somebody who can defend at the rim with the players that they have."

The Lakers may not be able to find another Anthony Davis without, say, trading LeBron James, but the team could still grab an athletic rim protector like Onyeka Okongwu or Mitchell Robinson with the right trade chips.