Luka Doncic’s first season with the Los Angeles Lakers was a rollercoaster, to say the least. The Dallas Mavericks inexplicably shipped out Doncic for a trade package built around Anthony Davis, but the Lakers wound up being the clear winners of the deal as they finished with the third seed while the Mavericks missed the playoffs.
While Los Angeles lost in the first round to the Minnesota Timberwolves, their future is bright with Doncic now on the roster.
Doncic has already expressed an interest in staying with the Lakers long-term and the early expectation is he’ll sign an extension this summer as he’s fully committed to the team. This is great news for the purple and gold who have proudly touted Doncic as the face of the franchise and their building block moving forward.
Doncic’s exit from the Mavericks was an emotional one and he’ll see his former team soon as the Lakers are set to play a preseason game against them in Las Vegas, via NBA Insider Marc Stein:
Expect an early season matchup between the Mavericks and Luka Dončić in 2025-26:
I'm told that the Lakers and Mavericks are lining up to play a preseason game in Las Vegas in October.
More NBA from me: https://t.co/IIIlAloJCf
And noon CT today on @DLLS_Sports pic.twitter.com/7tUrxDr9DA
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) May 7, 2025
It makes sense that Los Angeles and Dallas would be squaring up in preseason as this gives the NBA a great way to generate excitement for the 2025-26 season. Because it’s preseason, Doncic and the rest of the regulars likely won’t play a full allotment of minutes but seeing him go up against Dallas should still be a treat.
Doncic has been professional about the situation publicly, but there could still be some negative feelings he’s harboring toward the Mavericks franchise and particularly general manager Nico Harrison and governor Patrick Dumont. Harrison and Dumont dragged Doncic for his conditioning and perceived lack of commitment to defense, so he’ll have plenty of motivation every time he plays against them.
Luka Doncic says everyone on Lakers needs to get better this summer
Considering they lost in the first round of the playoffs, Luka Doncic knows he and the other Lakers players need to improve their games this offseason.
“There’s obviously a lot of different things we can do, I can do,” he said. “Obviously everybody has got to get better. We’re gonna have a long summer and should focus on how we can improve as a team, as individuals.”
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