{"id":77449,"date":"2025-07-20T07:31:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T07:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/77449\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T07:31:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T07:31:11","slug":"luka-doncic-recruiting-for-lakers-ahead-of-contract-extension-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/77449\/","title":{"rendered":"Luka Don\u010di\u0107 recruiting for Lakers ahead of contract extension decision"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The single biggest piece of Los Angeles Lakers business \u2014 bigger than Jeanie Buss selling the team, bigger than the LeBron James drama, bigger than Austin Reaves\u2019 declined contract extension and bigger than landing a starting center \u2014 has yet to occur.<\/p>\n<p>Luka Don\u010di\u0107, who became the face of the Lakers\u2019 present and future the moment Rob Pelinka and the organization shocked the NBA by acquiring him from Dallas last February, is eligible to sign a contract extension with the franchise on Aug. 2.<\/p>\n<p>While Don\u010di\u0107 hasn\u2019t directly addressed his future with the franchise this summer \u2014 time he\u2019s spent in Europe putting together an all-time revenge glow-up \u2014 his actions behind the scenes crystalize why the Lakers are confident with how things stand.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u010di\u0107, according to league sources, had communicated his desires for a capable rim-running center, shooting help and defensive support. The Lakers responded by filling those needs with Deandre Ayton, Jake LaRavia and, soon, Marcus Smart.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Welcome home, Deandre and Jake \ud83d\udc9c <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/V2U56EnrFX\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/V2U56EnrFX<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Lakers\/status\/1942756969183600764?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">July 9, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In addition to that, league sources said, Don\u010di\u0107 has been an active recruiter for the Lakers this summer and helped secure commitments from Ayton and Smart after both unexpectedly hit free agency via contract buyouts.<\/p>\n<p>The Lakers also posted an interview with Don\u010di\u0107 on Saturday (taped during the season) that ended with him saying that he hoped his legacy with the Lakers would leave him known as \u201cthe guy that brought championships to the city.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>All of it has the Lakers confident they\u2019re in alignment with Don\u010di\u0107 in their plans to build a championship roster.<\/p>\n<p>None of this is to say that Don\u010di\u0107 was going to patiently wait for next summer or a talent-rich 2027 free agency crop for the Lakers to begin stacking their team. While Don\u010di\u0107 and the Lakers understand their long-term flexibility needs, the short-term movement has, on paper, signaled a commitment to competing in the short term, provided some things break their way.<\/p>\n<p>If \u2014 and it\u2019s a word you hear a lot when you speak to people about the Lakers\u2019 summer to date \u2014 a few key things happen, contention could be closer than a quick first-round exit last spring would suggest.<\/p>\n<p>The argument for the Lakers goes something like this:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li1\">Don\u010di\u0107 has committed to getting into fantastic shape thanks to a strict diet and exercise routine ahead of EuroBasket, and has shaken off most of, if not all, the shock from a trade he never believed was possible.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\">Reaves and James will have a full training camp to learn how to best play off of Don\u010di\u0107 and vice versa, the Lakers having three highly intelligent, adaptable pieces getting the benefit of time together.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\">Rui Hachimura quietly had his best season in the league on both sides of the court and had his second-straight season making more than 40 percent from three.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\">Ayton is a massive wild card, but the last time he played basketball with a pick-and-roll maestro, he was the starting center for an NBA Finals team with the Phoenix Suns. Heading into a contract year, he\u2019ll never have more financial motivation to be consistently engaged.<\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\">LaRavia will get his first consistent crack at real role-player minutes around talent and should see the quality of his looks jump while getting a chance to dig in defensively on the glass.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\">Smart was the Defensive Player of the Year just three seasons ago, but he\u2019s barely been on the court since. If the Lakers can get a run of good luck with Smart playing a reduced load, that, like the Ayton and LaRavia deals, has a chance to be tremendous value.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\">Perhaps most importantly, the Lakers are in this position without having to surrender their 2031 first-round draft pick, Dalton Knecht or any other limited trade assets.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Whether or not the Lakers\u2019 moves are good enough to vault them up toward the Oklahoma City Thunder or allow them to keep pace with the Rockets, Nuggets and Clippers \u2014 who all made splashy moves this summer \u2014 remains to be seen. However, it does seem clear that, at least for now, they\u2019ve sold Don\u010di\u0107 on a vision he trusts.<\/p>\n<p>Come the first weekend in August, he can sign an extension to cement that.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">(Photo: Harry How \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The single biggest piece of Los Angeles Lakers business \u2014 bigger than Jeanie Buss selling the team, bigger&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":77450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[3141,1260,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-77449","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114884397551297974","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77449","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=77449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}