Well before Luka Doncic became a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, and even before he came over to the NBA, he was a star for Real Madrid, one of the true premier European clubs. And like the Lakers, expectations at Real Madrid are extremely high with anything other than a championship feeling like a failure of a year.
And that same mindset still sticks with Doncic to this day. In a Spanish interview with Jorge Quiroga of Marca that was translated to English, Doncic admitted that he felt this past season for the Lakers was a bad one because they failed to win the NBA Championship:
“Well, I think it’s bad. Whenever you don’t win it’s a bad season, so if you don’t win it’s not a good one.”
Doncic has been very open about his desires to win a championship and that being the most important thing to him so coming up short will always be a disappointment. He has also talked about how he felt the Lakers had a real opportunity to make a deeper run in the playoffs had it not been for the left hamstring strain that kept him out of the postseason, not to mention the left oblique strain that caused Austin Reaves to miss the first four games as well.
But this summer, the Lakers have the opportunity to re-shape the roster and really build it around Doncic and the superstar admitted that this offseason is a bit more important than others:
“I think it’s very important. I think every summer is very important. And I think this one is a little more so too. Having a good team, good people on the team. So I think it’s an important summer.”
The Lakers have a lot of salary cap space, as well as multiple first-round draft picks that they could potentially include in a trade that could allow them to get the ideal pieces around Doncic and lift this team into contender status. Ultimately, Doncic and the Lakers are aligned in their desire to bring another championship to the franchise.
Luka Doncic discusses the types of players the Lakers need to add this summer
Doncic also has some ideas on the types of players he would prefer the Lakers to add to the roster this summer with 3-point shooters and rim-running big men who can finish in the pick-and-roll being at the top of the list.
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