Former NBA guard Gilbert Arenas believes playing alongside LeBron James has helped Luka Doncic deal with the criticism and negative attention he received following his trade from the Dallas Mavericks.

Arenas suggested that Doncic struggled emotionally with the unexpected move to the Los Angeles Lakers, particularly after facing questions about his conditioning and professionalism.

“Him being around LeBron really helped him.”

According to Arenas, Doncic went from being the face of the Mavericks to suddenly finding himself in a situation where he was dealing with widespread criticism.

“You’re talking about a guy where he’s on top of the world and then he gets shipped off. For the first time, he sees all this real negative things about him, and he doesn’t know how, you can tell this damn near the end of the season.”

Arenas believes the trade continued to affect Doncic during his first months with the Lakers, even as he adjusted to playing for a new franchise.

However, he suggested that spending time around James, who has dealt with intense public scrutiny throughout his NBA career, provided Doncic with an opportunity to learn how to handle that pressure.

“You can tell he was still hurt. And just probably just watching LeBron, having those conversations, just seeing his mannerisms, that can change him.”