The Lakers and LeBron are clearly reveling in what the Luka trade did for their title hopes

The game hasn’t gotten easy for the Los Angeles Lakers since the trade deadline. It just looks that way.

Consider this moment from Sunday night’s win over the Clippers: Jaxson Hayes got a defensive rebound, handed the ball to Luka Doncic, who took one step forward and fired a 75-foot two-hand chest pass downcourt to LeBron James — who caught it in stride and capped the play with an easy layup.

Touchdown, Lakers. And Doncic and James have had a play like that in just about every game lately, or so it would seem.

A month or so has passed since The Trade — Doncic leaving the Dallas Mavericks and joining the Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis — and the Lakers suddenly look like title contenders. They are a league-best 16-3 since Jan. 20 and went into Tuesday’s games sitting in the No. 2 spot in the Western Conference, a place that until now they hadn’t been since about the first week of the season.

“It’s been great,” Doncic said. “The atmosphere has been unbelievable, and we just want to give the people what they want, and that’s winning the games. That’s what we’re doing right now.”

Sunday’s win was the 1,000th in which James has appeared in his regular season career, making him the fourth player to appear in that many victories after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1,074), Robert Parish (1,013) and Tim Duncan (1,001). And now, another milestone: James is one point away from 50,000 for his career when combining regular-season and postseason games, and that bridge will almost certainly be crossed Tuesday night against New Orleans.

Only two other players — Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone — have scored at least 40,000 points when adding in playoffs. And technically, James is already over 50,000 but his 99 points from play-in tournament games and the 2023 NBA Cup title game (then just called the in-season tournament) don’t count.

“He’s one of the greatest competitors. … He’s amazing to coach,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “He brings it every single day. He sets the standard for how you’re supposed to approach this craft and to me, that’s the most incredible thing.”

There were other trades before the deadline that teams are seeing dividends from, including Golden State and Cleveland. Dallas had hope before Davis got hurt in his sensational debut game with the team. But now he’s hurt, the Mavs were already beaten up by other injuries and then they lost Kyrie Irving to a torn ACL on Monday night — another enormous blow to the team and its defeated fan base.

Time, and more accurately playoff results, will be the real gauge on how the trades helped teams like the Lakers and Warriors.

But for James and the Lakers, right now, everything is looking as good as can be. The team will host Southern California first responders and affected community members Tuesday as part of the continued response to the wildfires that devastated parts of Los Angeles earlier this winter. The wins are piling up. The milestones keep coming. They keep rising in the standings.

“I think we could be really good going down the stretch,” James said at the All-Star Game.

He’s been proved right again.

Warriors are rolling after acquiring Butler

After Golden State’s acquisition of Jimmy Butler from Miami the Warriors are still hovering around the play-in line in an absolutely jammed race for spots 6 through 10 in the West. Butler’s mere presence seems to have given the Warriors a boost.

He demands defenses to respect him, which is excellent news for Stephen Curry — who had a 56-point game last week in Orlando on a night when Butler wasn’t much of an offensive factor.

“There’s still unique skillsets in this league at the superstar level,” Curry said of Butler. “And he’s a guy that has clearly defined a style that impacts winning at both ends of the floor. You see how much he’s helped us so far. … He’s succeeded at the highest level. He’s gone to two finals and he’s motivated more than ever to try to get back there.”

Cleveland improved with off-the-radar deal

The Cavaliers made a very savvy move before the trade window closed, adding De’Andre Hunter from Atlanta. The Cavs were good before the trade. They’re even better after.

Entering Monday, the Cavs were 8-0 with Hunter in the lineup — winning those eight games by an average of nearly 19 points. One of the few close ones was Sunday, when Cleveland had to dig deep to rally past Portland with Hunter leading the way.

“I didn’t think we were going to win the game. De’Andre really took us from the abyss,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said.

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