Hollywood Showdown: Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving Prepare for Dallas Mavs' Star-Studded Matchup with LeBron James' Los Angeles Lakers

The stars will be out when the Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers take the court on Wednesday night, but per usual, there will surely be other trade-related storylines that surface, whether we like it or not.

As the Dallas Mavericks attempt to break out of their current funk, having lost three of their last four contests, things won't get much easier as they make a pre-Thanksgiving road trip to take on the surging Los Angeles Lakers.

Led by 38-year-old LeBron James, who recently passed Jason Kidd on the NBA's all-time triple-double list, the Lakers have won five of their last six games heading into Wednesday's game against the Mavs. The star duo of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving is working like a well-oiled machine on offense, but Dallas' overall defense has sputtered all season, and especially during this 1-3 stretch while giving up an average of 127.3 points.

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In theory, the Mavs should have a decent chance to end their current two-game skid, as they have third-best offense in the league, whereas the Lakers struggle in that department at 24th in the league. However, Dallas' 25th-ranked defense has a tendency to make below-average offenses look much better than they are, so we wouldn't be shocked if that's the case yet again on Wednesday.

“Yeah, I think it’s mainly just our effort. Understanding we can trust one another," Mavs forward Grant Williams said. "We’re taught our principles every single day, so being mindful of those [will help]. Our physicality has to improve.”

Dallas Mavericks star Kyrie Irving gets smothered by the Sacramento Kings' defense in Sunday's loss / Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Aside from the star-studded on-court play, there will surely be a lot of eyes on what goes on before and after the game as well. Despite Irving playing well with Doncic and agreeing to a three-year deal with the Mavs over the summer, that hasn't stopped the Kyrie-to-Lakers trade talk. However, as we've stated many times before here at DallasBasketball.com, if James is going to reunite with Irving before he retires, he'd be better off trying to do so in Dallas with Doncic as well.

“[Luka's] size. I mean he’s gigantic. A 6-8 point guard. He’s 225 pounds. He has the ball on a string. And more importantly, his vision. That’s why I love him,” James said last summer of Doncic, who like Irving, is one of his favorite players in the league.

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“He can control a game. He doesn’t even have to shoot. Literally, he’ll walk the ball up ten straight times and get to his spot every single time, just because of his pace. He knows when he comes off a pick-and-roll if they’re hard showing or if they hedging or if they dropping the pick and roll. He knows I can turn the corner because I got this shoulder, and I know the third line of defense, when I get there, if I just slow down and use my pivots, not even jump, just the Euro one-two, this guy’s flying by every time. It’s the mind.”

The two masterminds will play their 12th game against each other on Wednesday, as Doncic will seek his fifth win over James in his young career. James currently holds a 7-4 head-to-head record over Doncic, but in this particular matchup, Doncic arguably has the most talented supporting case around him that he's had throughout all of his games played against James.