{"id":153047,"date":"2025-08-02T12:26:52","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T16:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=153047"},"modified":"2025-08-02T12:49:27","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T16:49:27","slug":"lakers-news-luka-doncic-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/08\/02\/lakers-news-luka-doncic-extension\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers Cement Luka Doncic as Next Face of the Franchise"},"content":{"rendered":"

After months of speculation<\/span>, <\/span>Luka Doncic<\/span><\/a> and the Lakers have put pen to paper on a three-year, $165 million extension, according to ESPN\u2019s Shams Charania<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a post on X after signing the deal, Doncic wrote<\/a>: \u201cExcited to keep working to bring championships to LA and make Laker Nation proud. Grateful to the Lakers, my teammates and all the fans who\u2019ve shown so much love since day one. This is just the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lakers Cement Luka Doncic as Next Face of the Franchise<\/b><\/h2>\n

Doncic Extension a No-Brainer for LA<\/b><\/h3>\n

Doncic<\/span><\/a>‘s deal with\u00a0the Lakers is the latest stepping stone in a new era for the franchise, who, until the trade deadline, had searched for the heir to <\/span>LeBron James<\/span><\/a>\u2019 throne. Doncic made an impact as soon as he arrived in Tinseltown. In 28 games, he averaged 28.2 points, 8.1 rebounds and 7.5 assists on .438\/.379\/.791 splits. To no one\u2019s surprise, he elevated his game in the playoffs, boasting 30.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 5.8 assists in the Lakers\u2019 first-round loss to the Timberwolves.<\/span><\/p>\n

With the shock of the trade wearing off over time, the five-time All-Star has remained steadfast in reaching his goals with the Lakers, hoping to be <\/span>remembered<\/span><\/a> as \u201cthe guy that brought championships to the city.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Re-signing Doncic is the perfect bookend to the Lakers\u2019 <\/span>offseason<\/span><\/a>, one where the team has pounced on the buyout market and signed valuable rotation pieces to team-friendly deals. The Slovenian star reportedly <\/span>recruited<\/span><\/a> Deandre Ayton<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Marcus Smart<\/span><\/a> to LA, doing his part to build a title contender in the gauntlet that is the Western Conference. <\/span>Doncic\u2019s commitment<\/span><\/a> to his physical fitness is another encouraging sign, as the Lakers hope to maximize a full season with him and James at the helm.<\/span><\/p>\n

While Doncic\u2019s extension is the latest wrinkle in the Lakers\u2019 future, it does not expedite the end of James\u2019s tenure in LA. Luka reportedly <\/span>wants LeBron to retire a Laker<\/span><\/a> and not force him out of Los Angeles, putting any <\/span>rumors<\/span><\/a> of a potential trade or buyout to rest.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Los
Feb 19, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) and guard Luka Doncic (77) celebrate after a play during the third quarter against the Charlotte Hornets at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jason Parkhurst-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Last Word<\/b><\/h3>\n

The Lakers\u2019 roster\u2014aside from a vacant guaranteed spot and an open two-way contract\u2014is all set for next season. Fans can rest easy knowing their next cornerstone is confirmed and look forward to the summer of 2027, when the team can lure another star to Hollywood.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

After months of speculation, Luka Doncic and the Lakers have put pen to paper on a three-year, $165 million extension, according to ESPN\u2019s Shams Charania. In a post on X after signing the deal, Doncic wrote: \u201cExcited to keep working to bring championships to LA and make Laker Nation proud. Grateful to the Lakers, my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":130084,"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":[1608,2,26,62,3],"tags":[50169,1419,38,1133,428],"class_list":["post-153047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-featured","category-lakers","category-nba","category-news","tag-2025-nba-offseason","tag-deandre-ayton","tag-lebron-james","tag-luka-doncic","tag-marcus-smart"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153047","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=153047"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":153113,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153047\/revisions\/153113"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}