{"id":114717,"date":"2025-08-03T04:23:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T04:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/114717\/"},"modified":"2025-08-03T04:23:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T04:23:15","slug":"lakers-are-committed-to-luka-doncic-but-what-about-lebron-james","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/114717\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers are committed to Luka Doncic, but what about LeBron James?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Near the conclusion of the news conference to address his contract extension with the Lakers<\/a>, Luka Doncic<\/a> detailed the training program that contributed to his striking weight loss.<\/p>\n

When he was finished talking about how he lifted weight and refrained from playing basketball for a month, general manager Rob Pelinka<\/a> made it a point to offer some thoughts.<\/p>\n

\u201cLuka\u2019s done all the work,\u201d Pelinka said, \u201cbut it\u2019s important to have a support system around you to help you do the great work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pelinka went on to praise Doncic\u2019s trainer, Anze Macek, and physiotherapist, Javier Barrio. He remarked how Macek and Barrio have \u201cworked seamlessly\u201d with the Lakers\u2019 staff. He name-checked Doncic\u2019s agent, Bill Duffy, and business manager, Lara Beth Seager.<\/p>\n

These weren\u2019t garden-variety compliments.<\/p>\n

This was a pledge of allegiance.<\/p>\n

Shortly after Doncic was traded by the Dallas Mavericks to the Lakers last season, stories emerged about tensions between his inner circle and former team.<\/p>\n

Pelinka\u2019s words contained an indirect message: We will support you the way Mavericks didn\u2019t. This is your team.<\/p>\n

The commitment was formalized on Saturday, the Lakers signing the 26-year-old Doncic to a three-year, $165-million contract extension<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The news conference ended with seven Lakers players and coach JJ Redick<\/a> emerging from the back to take a picture with Doncic as he held up his jersey. A couple of the players, center Deandre Ayton and guard Marcus Smart, were personally recruited to the team by Doncic.<\/p>\n

Doncic is now officially the center of the Lakers\u2019 universe, and as inevitable as that seemed from the moment Pelinka acquired him, the dynamic intensifies a question that was initially raised last season: What does this mean for LeBron James<\/a>?<\/p>\n

\"Lakers <\/p>\n

Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka, left, and Luka Doncic hold up Doncic\u2019s jersey during a news conference in El Segundo on Saturday.<\/p>\n

(Carlin Stiehl \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Too much shouldn\u2019t be made of James\u2019 absence from the news conference on Saturday, as Austin Reaves<\/a> wasn\u2019t there either. However, James is under contract for just one more season and Doncic for at least three more, and how will James deal with not being the focal point of his franchise? James is a player who is used to exercising boundless influence over teams that employ him, enough to where the 17-time NBA champion Lakers drafted his undersized son.<\/p>\n

While the Lakers once had visions of Anthony Davis<\/a> replacing James as the face of their franchise, the imaginary baton was never passed. The Lakers didn\u2019t make as big a deal of Davis\u2019 extension two years ago as they did with Doncic\u2019s on Saturday, for which a Doncic-themed photo gallery was erected for the news conference.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an uneasy feeling about the situation, in large part because James hasn\u2019t clearly communicated his thoughts. When James exercised his player option for the upcoming season, his agent said that because James wanted to play for championships and the Lakers were \u201cbuilding for the future,\u201d their camp wanted \u201cto evaluate what\u2019s best for LeBron at this stage in his life and career.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 40-year-old James will have a say in what happens, as his deal includes a no-trade provision.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Asked how James viewed the Lakers\u2019 summer and whether he thought James would retire with the team, Pelinka replied, \u201cSo all the interactions we\u2019ve had with LeBron and his camp, [agent Rich Paul] in particular, have been positive and supportive. So very professional and Rich has been great. The dialogue with him has been open and constant.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of LeBron\u2019s career, I think the number one thing we have to do there is respect he and his family\u2019s decision in terms of how long he\u2019s going to play. I think that\u2019s first and foremost and we want to respect his ability to come up with his timetable on that. I think that\u2019s really important, but if he had a chance to retire as a Laker, that would be great.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, there wasn\u2019t enough clarity for Pelinka to be able to say with any degree of certainty, yes, he thought James would retire a Laker.<\/p>\n

Doncic accepted an offer from the Lakers to be their next headliner. That was an important development for them. But for them to be able to properly showcase their next act, they will have to close their previous one, whether it\u2019s by him accepting a supporting role or deciding to take his talents elsewhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Near the conclusion of the news conference to address his contract extension with the Lakers, Luka Doncic detailed…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":114718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[71696,1582,276,3853,1910,2961,8604,224,2444,5337,3365,71697,24566,5395,5950,3007,24565,71695,71694,1628],"class_list":{"0":"post-114717","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-basketball-operation","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-deal","12":"tag-game","13":"tag-la","14":"tag-lakers","15":"tag-los-angeles","16":"tag-los-angeles-times","17":"tag-losangeles","18":"tag-luka-doncic","19":"tag-poor-conditioning","20":"tag-rebound","21":"tag-saturday","22":"tag-season","23":"tag-team","24":"tag-three-point-range","25":"tag-three-year-contract-extension","26":"tag-whole-body","27":"tag-year"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114962930368727970","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}