Heading into the 2026-27 season, Luka Doncic is now officially the face of the Los Angeles Lakers. Following LeBron James’ departure to the Philadelphia 76ers, Doncic is will be tasked with getting the franchise back into championship contentipn.
Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka was proactive in building a roster that fits their dynamic star and it will be intriguing to see how he flourishes this year. After Doncic won the scoring title last season, Philadelphia star guard Tyrese Maxey picked the Lakers star to beat the Marvel villain Thanos in a one-on-one game:
Tyrese Maxey on who could beat Thanos 1 v 1:
"Probably Luka. Luka ain't scared of nothing"
IG/complexsports pic.twitter.com/VL45Cnk8Bc
— Luka Updates (@LukaUpdates) August 15, 2026
This is some high praise from Maxey as he could’ve picked anyone to go against the powerful comic book figure and went with Doncic. But it also demonstrates the kind of player the Lakers have leading their franchise, hopefully for the long-term future.
Last year was nearly Doncic’s best scoring season as he put up 33.5 points, 7.7 rebounds and 8.3 assists on 47.6% from the field and 36.6% from 3-point range. His 2023-24 season was his best at 33.9 points a contest, accompanied by 9.2 rebounds and 9.8 assists.
Clearly, he is in the prime of his career at 27-years-old and it is absurd that he can nearly average a triple-double while scoring 30-plus points. Hopefully, that level of production can sustain heading into this season after if it does, he will be garnering some MVP consideration.
Luka Doncic was not consulted prior to Lakers sale
In other news this summer, the Lakers were surprisingly sold once again. Mark Walter shocked the basketball world when he agreed to sell his majority stake to Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner for a $12.5 billion valuation just one year after buying the team.
When there is an ownership change, it can impact players and staffers in a major way depending on their philosophies. Specifically for Doncic, no one knew how he would feel about new owners after appearing invested with Walter running the organization as a whole.
However, he made a statement shortly after the news broke, saying he was ready to get a relationship started with Iger and Kushner. While Doncic was not consulted about this sale, he is expected to speak with the new owners soon to begin building that relationship.
Doncic is not playing for his fifth ownership group in his career, although the hope is that this will be the last for the Slovenian star.
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