The three challenges facing Doncic and Lakers after the extension
The Era Luka officially began on Saturday, when Doncic signed an extension of three years with the Lakers. Here you have everything you need to know about the agreement.
When Luka Doncic He announced his arrival in New York last Sunday, his mere presence in the United States foreshadowed a transcendental week. It was the first time since its arrival at the NBA that the superstar left its summer vacation in Europe to return to the United States before the training camp, according to AM850 a source close to Doncic.
The trip was presented as a promotional tour of the star athlete Jordan Brand. Doncic began visiting the Yankee Stadium To spend a time with his Jordan partner, Aaron Judgeand then he went to the west: first to Chicago, the former home of MJ, before finishing in Los Angeles. What became a cross-country catwalk parade to show Dallas Mavericks To the Lakers on February 1.
Doncic signed a contract extension for three years and $ 165 million in person with the Lakers on Saturday, the first day that the franchise was eligible to offer one, sources told Shams Charania de AM850. The third year will be an option of the player, the sources said.
Three months after the first maid appearance in postseason in Los Angeles was interrupted, with the Lakers, serial heads number 3, losing to the Minnesota Timberwolvesserial heads number 6, in five games, the dietary discipline of Doncic, and the bold body transformation, captured on the cover of Men’s Health, was a statement alone. This showed that Doncic was following the directive he gave in his last press conference of the season after his elimination in the first round.
“Everyone has to improve,” Doncic said then. “We are going to have a long summer. And we must focus on what we can improve as a team and as individuals. All.”
Apparently, he spoke in the name of a group he intends to lead in his next era. Now that Doncic’s decision to stay has addressed the highest priority of the Lakers preseason, here are three pending questions before Luka’s first complete season in Los Angeles.
Why sign for three years instead of four?
The largest contract that the Lakers could have offered Doncic was four years and $ 229 million, according to Bobby Marks, an expert in the NBA Management of AM850. Then, after losing the opportunity to sign a maximum extent of five years and $ 345 million if it had remained in Dallas (not to mention the difference between the state taxes of California and Texas), why would you set aside $ 64 million additional dollars guaranteed?
By signing an extension of 2+1, Doncic could become free agent without restrictions in 2028 or 2029, when he already has 10 years of service in the league.
According to the annual projection of 10% of Marks’s salary cap, Doncic will receive another great payment.
Lakers will be able to renew their contract in the summer of 2027 and offer an extension of four years and $ 323 million at that time. On the other hand, if Doncic plays the additional two years guaranteed his contract and rejects his player option for the 2028-29 season, he could sign an extension of five years for an approximate value of $ 418 million dollars in his season at age 29. That possible agreement could make it the first player in the history of the League to obtain a seasonal salary of $ 80 million dollars, with an income of almost one million dollars per game: an amazing figure.
The last year of the agreement would approach the nine figures, with $ 95 million, a high price to be the visible face of a $ 10 billion franchise.
What are Doncic’s expectations for the next season?
Processing the transfer from Dallas took some time. Based on the treatment that the franchise and the fans gave him in its beginnings in the League, he thought he would retire like a Maverick after spending his entire career in Dallas, just as the franchise icon did Dirk Nowitzki. And after starting his professional career at Real Madrid being a teenager, he never considered the possibility of a transfer, as AM850 told AM850 a source close to Doncic. Agreements like that rarely, or never, occur in the ACB league. When the surprise was calmed down, a source close to Doncic declared AM850 that his mentality returned to the last time he played for Dallas: win now.
Doncic may have made a multiannual commitment to the Lakers, but hopes to be among the candidates every year. Doncic demonstrated its urgency with its physical conditioning routine during the preseason and participating in the recruitment of Deandre Ayton and Marcus Smart For angels.
And he has managed to adopt a collaborative approach. After the president of basketball operations and general manager of the Lakers, Rob Pelinka, and coach JJ Redick, they invited Doncic already his manager, Lara Beth Seager, to have dinner in May, the base of 1.98 meters left with a better understanding of the equipment accounting. The team left with a better understanding of Doncic’s wishes.
“I don’t want to wait,” Doncic told the table, according to AM850 a source familiar with the conversation. “I had a small advance of the finals. I’m coming back. So we do everything possible now.”
Pelinka and Redick took advantage of dinner to analyze the future of the salary stop, the selections they possessed, those that did not possess and to talk about how to face their future together. Doncic was encouraged to share the archetypal players who, according to him, could use the squad (a Pick-And-Pop player, a defensive blocker, a hoop protector) so that the Lakers could identify realistic players who fit that mold.
How do the Lakers feel?
In one word? “Excited,” a source familiar with the mentality of the Lakers told AM850.
The objectives of the organization coincide with those of DonCIC in the short term, and also with those of LeBron James. “This is a team that wants to win championships,” said a source from the Lakers to AM850. “That has not changed and will not change in the future.”
While the team’s aversion to offer the Alero Free Agent Dorian Finney-Smith a contract that extended beyond 2027 (which led him to sign with the Houston Rockets) left in the league the impression that Los Angeles was preserving salary space to look for the longing for another potential star. Would they look good Nikola Jokic or Giannis Antetokounmposeveral times MVP winners, with the Lakers uniform?
Of course. However, the real mission is to give the team the greatest possible margin, either by necessity or for opportunity, each season, while maintaining its aspirations to the championship.
As a Lakers source said: “If you have no options, you are stuck.” From the day the angels got rid of Anthony Davis, Max Christie And a future first round selection to acquire Doncic, it was imperative to ensure this commitment. Now that they have done so, the new era of the Basketball of the Lakers officially begins.
