With just one guaranteed year left on his contract, there’s no telling whether Luka Doncic will be with the Lakers past his current deal — or if LeBron James will, either, for that matter.
ESPN NBA Insider Brian Windhorst spoke on ESPN’s “Get Up” on Tuesday about the different hurdles that Los Angeles might face in trying to retain Doncic.
“It’s not a guarantee, for sure, that Luka’s going to rip off a five-year deal in July,” Windhorst said. “He may want to see how things play out.”
With James’ age (40), the team’s future lies on Doncic’s shoulders.
Following the trade, though, the Lakers’ roster certainly isn’t stacked with enticing pieces from top to bottom, particularly in the frontcourt without Anthony Davis.
“The Lakers have to do some work over the next few months to convince [Doncic] he wants to get locked in,” Windhorst said. “They are not a complete team.”
Before the trade, there weren’t necessarily any questions on whether Doncic was going to sign a supermax extension with the Mavericks when his contract ends a year from now.
Doncic has also since expressed that he never indicated to Dallas that he wasn’t going to sign a deal.
“Luka has one year left on his contract and we all assumed that Luka was going to re-sign in Dallas,” Windhorst said. “It’s never once been brought up in my life about Luka’s contract.”
There’s no longer that same certainty surrounding Doncic’s future plans.
“[The Lakers] don’t get the supermax privilege,” Windhorst said. “They can’t give him that $350 million, they can offer him $100 million less.”
As for James, Windhorst notes that James has an option in his contract for next season.
“I have no belief that LeBron wants anything more than just to be a Laker, but LeBron’s contract status is not settled,” he said.
All eyes will be on the Lakers once Doncic and James take the floor together, but time will tell if this era of the Lake Show will last any further than the remainder of this season.
“We have to just watch and see how it all plays out,” Windhorst said.
