Los Angeles Lakers superstar Luka Doncic is entering his age-26 season and his first full season in L.A. He was traded from the Dallas Mavericks to the Lakers in one of the most shocking deals in league history, and quickly signed a three-year extension to stay with the team until at least the 2027-28 season.
At that point, Doncic will have been in the NBA for 10 seasons and can unlock a massive new contract that could recoup some of the potential supermax money he lost when the Mavericks traded him away. All of that is to say that Doncic is many years away from even considering the prospect of retirement.
But when that day ultimately comes, there is one step that Luka might take before he officially calls it quits. That involves returning to his first true basketball home with Real Madrid, according to Jason Gay of The Wall Street Journal:
Doncic does leave the door open to a sentimental possibility. I ask him if he’d consider playing for Real Madrid toward the end of his career, returning to where it all started. At first he demurs, saying he doesn’t know if he’d still have the physical tools.
“To play with Real Madrid, you have to be so good,” he says.
But the idea of finishing up there—a storyline the NBA, currently assembling a European league of its own, might love—does that have emotional appeal?
“For sure,” Luka says. “They raised me.”
It’s common for players to want to return home before retiring, similar to how players sign contracts with their first NBA teams before calling it a career. However, Doncic is aware that Real Madrid is one of the most competitive teams in the world outside of the NBA, and made it sound as though he would only do that if he felt he was good enough to compete.
Lakers fans don’t need to worry, as Doncic retiring is likely more than a decade away from becoming a reality, but he may already be making his plans when he leaves the NBA for good.
Luka Doncic interested in owning sports franchise
Luka Doncic is poised to have his best year after spending the offseason taking his conditioning and diet seriously.
With the Lakers getting eliminated from the playoffs early, Doncic got the rare opportunity to take extended time off and it obviously benefitted as he looked leaner and quicker during his run with Slovenia in EuroBasket 2025. Luka led the underdog Slovenian team to the round of 16 and got past Italy in the first round before succumbing to Germany in the quarterfinals. Germany went on to win the gold, though Doncic certainly did his part to try and knock them out earlier in the tournament.
Doncic can now turn his attention to the 2025-26 season and the first step will be reporting to training camp in the coming weeks. He already looks to be in basketball shape, so there’s real optimism that he and the Lakers can get off to a fast start.
Off the floor, Doncic has started to look at things to do post-career and he revealed he’s got serious interest in becoming a sports owner someday.
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