Luka Doncic acknowledged LeBron James' absence will represent "a big change" for the Los Angeles Lakers at the start of the NBA season, but insists his team-mates' mentality must be "next man up".

The four-time NBA winner – and the all-time leading points scorer – will miss three to four weeks due to sciatica symptoms on the right side of his body, ruling him out of the season opener against the Golden State Warriors on October 21.

Doncic, a five-time NBA All-Star, knows the Lakers will miss James, but he encouraged the rest of the roster to step up and deliver.

"I don't view it that way [that I must do more in James' absence]," Doncic said. "I just want to play basketball. If I do less, if I do more, whatever it takes for me to get a win.

"It's a big change. He's a great player. He can help us a lot. But at the end of the day, our mentality needs to be 'next man up.'

Energy in the gym todaypic.twitter.com/jw21kdkODU

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) October 9, 2025

"We've got a group of guys that have been practising and, hopefully, LeBron can join us as soon as possible. We are obviously going to need him."

"You hope that he's back soon," coach JJ Redick added. "Those things can be tricky. It is unclear what the starting lineup is going to be. That's the reality, until he is back. We'll have to figure that out."

Neither James nor Doncic have featured for the Lakers so far in preseason, which has brought defeats to the Phoenix Suns and the Warriors.

However, Redick said Doncic would feature in two of Los Angeles' four remaining warm-up games before the season starts.

"I played for [the] national team [at EuroBasket]," Doncic explained of his limited participation thus far.

"Playing one month or something of basketball [for Slovenia]. Obviously, it's a long season ahead, so just because of that."