I can understand the happiness in La-La Land.
The Los Angeles Lakers’ trade for Luka Doncic was completed when Doncic signed his three-year, $165M extension.
LeBron James was never welcomed in Los Angeles by Kobe-Stans who couldn’t come to grips with the fact that the reason why James was needed was because the Lakers foolishly gave Bryant that two-year, $48.5M extension.
James carried the Lakers out of irrelevance with the title in The Bubble, but the front office couldn’t sustain the momentum, and Los Angeles slipped down to being a borderline Play-In team with Jeannie Buss at the helm.
To put it lightly, Buss’ poor job had the Lakers on life support until Nico Harrison called and offered up Luka.
Last season ended with a disappointing loss to Minnesota in the playoffs, and James was asked to carry the team while Luka was recovering from injury and poor playing shape.
Now with Luka healthy, happy, and under contract, along with more competent ownership in Mark Walter, it’s full steam ahead with transitioning the Lakers away from LeBron to Luka. Los Angeles seems happy to see LeBron possibly heading out the door in a season.
We haven’t seen a transition away from a transcendent star since Abe Pollin threw Michael Jordan out of the building.
But in all the happiness, there was some foolishness.
“I feel like we can win a championship, to be honest with you,” Austin Reaves said. “The reason for that is I know everybody in that locker room believes that.”
Doncic doubled down on it.
“I think we have the team to do it,” said Doncic. “When everybody is locked in, we’re a hard team to beat, so that’s our goal.”
Correct me if I’m wrong, but Nikola Jokic and the retooled Denver Nuggets are still in the West? How about the Houston Rockets and the acquisition of Kevin Durant? Oh yeah, there are the defending champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Los Angeles Clippers and Minnesota Timberwolves won’t be pushovers, and the Golden State Warriors could be an acquisition away from being in the conversation.
Yes. Luka will be in shape because, of course, this is a EuroBasket year. But, excuse me for not being excited over the acquisition of DeAndre Ayton, Jake LaRavia, and Marcus Smart. By the way, after not trading Dalton Knecht last season, the Lakers signed his replacement when LaRavia arrived.
Is the bench enough in a league that doesn’t crown champs with a roster of two stars and a bucket of nickels anymore?
Furthermore, with the roster, offense, and defensive schemes being shifted to accommodate Doncic, how does James fit in? Don’t get it twisted, the Lakers still need LeBron to perform at a level younger than his age in the West.
The Lakers are eyeing free agency in 2027-28, when Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo could become free agents, so how much future money are they willing to take on?
So let’s slow down on the Lakers having a championship-caliber roster. That could happen after James leaves town, provided Rob Pelinka makes the right moves around Doncic’s strengths.
If not, Nico Harrison and the Dallas Mavericks could “win” that trade because when you look at the roster, Harrison has a chance to build around Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis, and Cooper Flagg. More than likely, that will have to come after this season because of Irving’s injury.
But wouldn’t it be fun if, in two years, the Western Conference finals pit Los Angeles against Dallas… especially if the King finds his way to Texas.
