{"id":143286,"date":"2025-06-03T14:51:19","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T18:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=143286"},"modified":"2025-06-03T14:51:19","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T18:51:19","slug":"lakers-luka-doncic-extension-expectation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/06\/03\/lakers-luka-doncic-extension-expectation\/","title":{"rendered":"Insider Expects Lakers Star to Sign This Extension"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aside from massive speculation around <\/span>LeBron James<\/span><\/a>\u2019 future, Lakers fans are also waiting with bated breath on their other superstar, <\/span>Luka Doncic<\/span><\/a>, and what he\u2019ll do now that he\u2019s in LA. According to NBA insider Bobby Marks, the 27-year-old maestro has multiple extension options at his disposal, but there\u2019s one he may be more inclined to accept than others.<\/span><\/p>\n

Insider Expects Lakers Star to Sign This Extension<\/b><\/h2>\n

Doncic May Go for Short-Term Deal<\/b><\/h3>\n

In a <\/span>preview of key extension-eligible candidates<\/span><\/a>, Marks outlined Doncic\u2019s copious options for sticking with the Lakers. The biggest? A four-year, $229 million max deal, which he is eligible to sign on Aug. 2.<\/span> But while that contract may seem appealing for Doncic at first glance, it may not be the route he takes after all.<\/span><\/p>\n

ESPN\u2019s front office insider says the \u201cmore likely\u201d option for Doncic is \u201ca three-year, $165 million extension that includes a player option in the third year. The short-term extension would allow Doncic to reenter free agency sooner and potentially recoup the $345 million he lost when he was traded from the Mavericks.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Marks also noted that while there should be \u201cconfidence\u201d in Doncic sticking around, \u201cshowing him what a post-LeBron James roster could look like is a major priority.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Apr
Apr 30, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) shoots against Minnesota Timberwolves center Naz Reid (11) during the second half in game five of first round for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The proposed extension for Doncic includes a player option for 2028-29, when the Lakers\u2019 roster would look remarkably different than presently constructed. According to their payroll<\/a>, the only Lakers who could stay past 2027 are <\/span>Jarred Vanderbilt<\/span><\/a> ($13.3 million player option), <\/span>Dalton Knecht<\/span><\/a> ($6.4 million team option) and <\/span>Bronny James<\/span><\/a> ($2.4 million team option). With the elder James\u2019 window closing, <\/span>Austin Reaves<\/span><\/a>\u2019 future uncertain, and other players reaching free agency next summer, the next few years would give LA a crucial opportunity to build around Doncic in the middle of his prime.<\/span><\/p>\n

Roster Construction Hinges on Another Important Laker<\/b><\/h3>\n

Retooling the Lakers in a post-LeBron era will not only rely on adding complementary players, but also keeping in-house talent. That\u2019s another dilemma the Lakers will face when it comes to their situation with Reaves.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the same story, Marks predicted that the 27-year-old undrafted phenom bypasses an extension in favor of 2026 free agency. The Lakers can only offer Reaves a four-year, $89.2 million extension, which features a salary well below <\/span>his rumored hopes of $30 million<\/span><\/a>. Seemingly taking that factor into account, Marks added: \u201cDeclining the $14.9 million player option in 2026-27 would give him more financial options on a fresh contract with the Lakers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Reaves has had nothing but praise for the franchise that gave him his start in the league, and his career year only underscores his importance to the Lakers, especially as they undergo significant changes in short order. Doncic even praised Reaves in an appearance on <\/span>\u201cMind the Game,\u201d<\/span><\/a> saying<\/span><\/a>, \u201c<\/span>[Us] two out there and [Austin Reaves], who’s been playing unbelievable. I still think it’s a work in progress.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That chemistry could only grow next season and truly flourish once Doncic takes the reins\u2014which makes it all the more important for Reaves to rejoin LA in free agency (should he decide to test the waters after all).<\/span><\/p>\n

The ex-Oklahoma guard has a while to decide on his extension\u2014until the end of next June. If he decides against it, Reaves will play out the final guaranteed year of his contract on a $13.9 million salary, with a $14.8 million player option (2026-27)\u00a0to follow suit.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aside from massive speculation around LeBron James\u2019 future, Lakers fans are also waiting with bated breath on their other superstar, Luka Doncic, and what he\u2019ll do now that he\u2019s in LA. According to NBA insider Bobby Marks, the 27-year-old maestro has multiple extension options at his disposal, but there\u2019s one he may be more inclined […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":143290,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,26,62,3],"tags":[50219,4556,4572,49212,2941,38,1133],"class_list":["post-143286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","category-news","tag-2025-nba-free-agents","tag-austin-reaves","tag-bronny-james","tag-dalton-knecht","tag-jarred-vanderbilt","tag-lebron-james","tag-luka-doncic"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143286"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":143299,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143286\/revisions\/143299"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}