Luka Dončić was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers ahead of the trade deadline in one of the NBA's most shocking deals in recent memory. The deal paired him with LeBron James, setting the franchise up to pass the torch from an all-time great to another player who is expected to enter those conversations.

While their first postseason run together ended in the first round, the two stars both played at a high level. Dončić recently appeared on the NBA's all-time leading scorer "Mind the Game" podcast, where his co-star revealed what impressed him during their first season as teammates.

"I mean, it's always his pace," LeBron James stated Sunday. "And it's always been his pace. It's never been a game be, okay, well, you could speed me up. He can speed me up. Okay, this bigger guy can be more physical. Okay, the smaller guy can get up underneath me. He moves at his own pace and he's never, ever, been on the floor where he's allowed someone to dictate where they're going to put him on the floor. It's always been the opposite. And, for us, we're all working off of that. We just got to stay ready. Obviously, we've seen throughout his career, there's plays and passes that certain guys that -- in the league history -- have ever been able to make. And, for us, we all just have to make sure that we continue to stay ready, especially when you're going against handsy teams, athletic teams, teams that try to speed you up. We always have to keep our head on a swivel because you just never know. You just never know when the ball may find you and that's a good thing. That's keeping the defense off balance and that's a great thing to have that."

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Dončić and James were able to thrive in their limited time as teammates. The team, however, fell well short of their championship aspirations. The Lakers front office is expected to be very active this summer as they look to retool the roster around their two stars.

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