NBA great Charles Barkley is honored for being selected to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team during halftime in the 2022 NBA All-Star Game at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

Charles Barkley makes prediction about LeBron James-Luka Doncic pairing

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports | By Grey Papke | Last updated Feb 3, 2025 8:57 AM ET

Charles Barkley is not quite as enamored with the Los Angeles Lakers’ blockbuster Luka Doncic trade as some others are.

In an appearance on NBATV Sunday, Barkley predicted that Doncic and LeBron James might struggle to coexist on the Lakers, at least initially. Barkley pointed to the fact that Doncic and James are both ball-dominant players as a potential issue and predicted “growing pains” for the Lakers’ new duo.

“This thing is not going to be smooth in L.A. with (Doncic) and LeBron, because both of them want the ball 100 percent of the time,” Barkley said. “Luka does not move without the ball. LeBron does not move without the ball. There’s going to be some serious growing pains when those two try to play together. Now, they’re both great players, don’t get me wrong, but LeBron wants the ball, and Luka definitely wants the ball. It’s going to be very interesting how that works out.”

"This thing is not going to be smooth in LA with [Luka] and LeBron."

Charles Barkley on how Anthony Davis and Luka Dončić fit with their new squads pic.twitter.com/4nA5sUApX3

— NBA TV (@NBATV) February 2, 2025

The consensus is that the Lakers had to make the trade, as it’s very rare to even get the chance to land a potential top-5 player who is still in his mid-20s. Barkley does not necessarily disagree, but he is probably right that this will take some effort to make it work. On the other hand, Doncic and Kyrie Irving struggled to make it work at first, and they wound up going to the NBA Finals together one year later.

James has made it work with stars throughout his career. Both players will have to adapt, and Barkley is right that it will probably take some time, but it is easy to see why the Lakers made the move.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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