Luka Doncic‘s trade from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers will go down in history as one of the most shocking moves in professional sports.
One of the faces of the NBA didn’t give any hints that he wanted to move out of Texas but he was out of the Lone Star State before he knew it and that has sparked rumours about him parting ways with the Mavericks.
But now, Doncic has to call Los Angeles home although we don’t know for how long. He lost $116 million by being traded from Dallas to LA: he was eligible to get a super max deal with the Mavs that would have been worth $345 million for five years, but instead the maximum amount of money he would get with the Lakers is a $229 million deal.
Lakers are worried about Doncic’s future
ESPN senior writer Brian Windhorst shared what he believes is the main concern for the Los Angeles Lakers in regards to Luka Doncic’s future with the team. According to the analyst, this topic could become a big issue for the home that Magic and Kobe built.
“I understand they got pressure because they (the Lakers) have to play Denver this wekend or whatever, but the pressure is on the organization between now and August 2nd to get Luka to sign that extension. That’s where the pressure is.” Windhorst said.
He went on to say that Luka does not have incentives to sign with Los Angeles. “He never said ‘I want to be a Laker’, there’s dozens of players over the years that had made it clear that they wanted to be with the Lakers, Luka never said that. This hit him out of the blue, it costed him a $100 million.”
According to Windhorst, the Slovenian superstar is gonna play close attention to the Lakers management moves during the summer to see if they could build a competitive team around him. “The Lakers are not winning a championship this year, their big, big, big moment is whether or nor Luka commits to the future so that they can properly do this again with a new face to the franchise.”
Luka’s career has had some major highs
Luka Doncic is one of just two players in NBA history to amass at least 10,000 points, 3,000 rebounds, and 3,000 assists through their first 400 career games (joining Oscar Robertson), and his 117 triple-doubles before turning 26 trail only the Big O.
Doncic captured the NBA scoring title by averaging 33.9 points per game during the 2023-24 season. In 50 career playoff games, he’s posted averages of 30.9 points, 9.4 rebounds, 8 assists, and 1.7 steals in 38.9 minutes, leading Dallas to the NBA Finals last season.
Already a five-time All-Star, Luka ranks second all-time in playoff scoring average, behind only Michael Jordan. Doni was asked if, despite all of his accomplishments, he still feels he has something to prove. “Obviously, yeah,” he responded. “Win a championship. You don’t come (to the Lakers) for anything less than a championship.”
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