LeBron called on role players to step up after Luka Doncic’s injury
Lakers aim to maintain competitiveness despite the setback
Team focus shifts to depth, effort, and collective responsibility
LeBron James wants to see a "next man up" mentality from the Los Angeles Lakers as they aim to deal with the loss of Luka Doncic to injury.
Doncic hobbled off during the Lakers' 103-88 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday.
He has suffered a left leg contusion and it is unclear how long he will be sidelined for.
However, James feels the Lakers have enough quality in their roster to fill in for Doncic, who is averaging a career-best 35.2 points per game.
"No matter what the circumstances are, it's still next man up," said James, who finished with a season-high 36 points.
"We're all professionals. We've all got to stay ready.
"So, obviously, it's very challenging circumstances for our ball club, but I think we played extremely hard, we followed our keys. We just came up short.
"The worst thing about sports is injuries. And not just basketball, but sports in general.
"You control the controllables, but what we have out there, whoever is in uniform, we have to go out and execute at the utmost pace that we can and on the other end, we've got to defend on a string and help each other out."
The Lakers sit fourth in the Western Conference with a 19-8 record, and go up against the Phoenix Suns and the Houston Rockets in the coming days.
