LOS ANGELES — As Luka Doncic sat inside the makeshift press conference room inside Crypto.com Arena following the Lakers’ season-ending Game 5 home loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs, he fielded multiple questions about what he learned over the previous couple of months.
Even though it had been nearly three months since coming to Los Angeles from Dallas in early February, the 26-year-old Slovenian star hadn’t had the time to sort through his experiences over the last several weeks.
The emotions weren’t as raw as they were when the Mavericks, the franchise Doncic spent the first 6½ seasons of his NBA career with and the one with whom he expected to retire, shockingly traded him to the Lakers on Feb. 2.
Or his first time playing against his former team in Los Angeles on Feb. 25.
Or his first time playing at American Airlines Center as a visiting player on April 9.
But they followed Doncic in the aftermath of joining the Lakers, making April 30 following the Lakers’ loss to the Timberwolves one of the first times he could exhale and take in everything that had transpired over the previous several weeks.
“Honestly, I don’t know, I’m mentally kind of exhausted from everything that happened,” Doncic said during his end-of-season news conference. “A lot of people won’t believe me, but I am. Now is the time to process everything.”
A part of that “everything” for Doncic will be making a decision on defining the length of his tenure with the Lakers.
Doncic will become eligible to sign a contract extension Aug. 2.
He has a $45.9 million salary for next season and a $48.9 million player option for 2026-27.
Doncic could sign a maximum four-year, $229 million contract extension with the Lakers, with the $51 million first-year salary for 2026-27 replacing the player option for that season.
But he could also sign a shorter-term extension to re-enter free agency sooner and recover some of the money that was left off of the table for him when the Mavericks traded him to the Lakers.
Doncic would’ve been eligible to sign a five-year, $345 million “super max” contract extension with Dallas. But when he was traded, Doncic became ineligible for a “super max” with the Lakers, limiting how much money and how long he’s able to sign for on his next contract.
Doncic could sign a three-year, $165 million extension (including a player option for the third year) with the Lakers, which would allow him to become an unrestricted free agent during the 2028 offseason. He’ll have 10 years of service following the 2027-28 season, making him eligible to sign a five-year contract that’d start at 35% of the salary cap that summer as opposed to the 30% of the cap he’s able to sign for now.
“I [haven’t thought] about it yet,” Doncic responded when asked about his potential extension. “I’ve been focused on basketball. So obviously this is the time now to think about everything.”
Everything Doncic has said about his brief Lakers experience suggests that he plans to be with the franchise for the long term, including saying during an exclusive interview with ESPN’s Malika Andrews in mid-April that he wants to stay in Los Angeles.
And the Lakers are expecting Doncic to be around for a while.
“It’s incredibly exciting to have the promise of him in our next decade of Laker basketball with being able to build a team around him and him being at the center of our franchise,” Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka said of Doncic. “Our partnership with him has been incredible.”
But until Doncic signs a new deal with the Lakers, which isn’t possible for another three months, the franchise will be looking to sell itself on why it’s the right organization for the Slovenian for the long term.
Meanwhile, Doncic enters a pivotal offseason looking to ensure that the Lakers’ disappointing end to 2024-25 was an anomaly.
“He wants to be held accountable,” Lakers first-year coach JJ Redick said of Doncic. “I want to bring out the best version of Luka. And that’s what he wants from me. And so that’s the partnership going forward. That’s the expectation. And that’s the baseline of what we’re trying to do. Let’s try to bring out the best version of Luka and hopefully win a championship doing that.”
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