The Los Angeles Lakers and general manager Rob Pelinka went into the summer of 2025 with a clear plan. They wanted to build a competitive team around Luka Doncic while maintaining flexibility to add star talent in one of the two future offseasons. It’s why only four of the 15 players on the roster have guaranteed deals beyond 2025-26.
It has been an eventful few months for Doncic since Pelinka ideated that plan, though. He slimmed down significantly, signed a three-year extension to stay with the Lakers and led Slovenia on an unexpected run to the EuroBasket quarterfinals. Luka was by far the best overall player at one of the best international competitions.
Pelinka was a witness to Doncic’s entire summer, and it may have had an impact on how the Lakers choose to do business this upcoming season. The Lakers decision-maker explained why, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN:
“Luka’s play in EuroBasket made it clear to the entire basketball world that he’s on that incredibly short list of ‘best player on the planet’ candidates, if not at the top,” Pelinka said. “In terms of team building, we’ve talked about the importance of having optionality and when I use that word, it’s not to say in the future. I think optionality is also in the now. Having both Luka as arguably the best player on the planet and LeBron James, who is still in the mix of being one of the great players in our game, even at his age, continues to allow us to think carefully about the value of that optionality.”
Part of the optionality that Pelinka discusses here is all of the expiring contracts the team has, plus their tradable first-round draft picks, all of which could theoretically combine to give the Lakers a strong chance at a high-caliber player:
L.A. will open training camp with 14 players on the roster, including Rui Hachimura ($18.3 million), Gabe Vincent ($11.5 million) and Maxi Kleber ($11 million) on expiring contracts. They can include one of their 2031 or 2032 first-round picks in a potential deal. And with Doncic signed long term, the Lakers are open to trading for a player on a contract that extends beyond 2026, sources told ESPN.
“If there are smart ways to pour into our championship aspirations for next year, we will execute on those,” Pelinka said. “And we see having those two players on our team next year [as] an important moment, and we’ll continue to try to do all we can to deliver this franchise its 18th championship.”
It’s unclear exactly what type of move the Lakers could be talking about here, as Andrew Wiggins is the only player L.A. has been remotely connected to in the last month to fit that description. However, the change in attitude could simply represent Pelinka being more proactive on high-level players with multi-year deals.
For now, it’s still seemingly more likely the Lakers enter the season and see what they have right now.
Luka Doncic unsure if he’ll get closure from Mavericks trade
Luka Doncic has been very open about how shocked and hurt he was at finding out he had been traded from the Dallas Mavericks to the Lakers. While he has now accepted it and embraced being a member of the Lakers franchise, he considered Dallas home and planned on playing his entire career with the Mavericks.
The Mavericks pointed to their belief that Luka was not always in the best of shape and questionable work ethic as reasons they felt the need to move on from the superstar and the tension between the two sides remains present. In fact, Doncic feels things will always be strange between himself and the Mavericks and is unsure he will ever receive closure.
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