Luka Doncic is entering his first offseason as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers. He was dealt to L.A. in one of the most shocking trades in league history back in February, but has already made himself a fan favorite and shown a high level of respect and trust in the Lakers’ front office and coaching staff.
One of L.A.’s top assistants is Greg St. Jean, who was hired by JJ Redick last summer as one of his first choices to be on the bench. He had a previous connection with Doncic after previously being an assistant under Jason Kidd in Dallas.
St. Jean and Doncic are close with the former always being seen leading the latter’s workouts before games. And according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN, St. Jean will be a part of the Slovenian National Team’s coaching staff this summer when Doncic will compete in EuroBasket:
Doncic will also have a direct conduit to the Lakers’ coaching staff with him this summer. Lakers assistant coach Greg St. Jean will serve as an assistant coach with the Slovenian national team, sources told ESPN, as Doncic competes for his home country in the FIBA EuroBasket tournament.
This is great news for both Doncic and the Lakers. For Doncic, he gets to have direct access to a Lakers coach at all times, meaning he can give his thoughts on the team and start to talk strategy on free agency and the 2025-26 season as early as possible.
For the Lakers, they have a respected assistant coach spending the summer with Doncic and continuing to train him. Conditioning and weight were issues that Doncic wanted to focus on heading into the offseason, and St. Jean can help keep him on the same program that already led to progress at the beginning of the offseason.
LeBron James expected to pick up player option to return to Lakers
The NBA offseason gets into full swing on Monday when free agency opens and teams can begin negotiating new contracts with players. But there are a couple of big decisions to be made before that, and one of those involves LeBron James for the Lakers.
James has a player option worth $52.6 million for the 2025-26 season and according to recent reports, he is expected to pick it up to return to the Lakers. Additionally, reports have indicated that James’ 23rd season in the NBA might not be his last.
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