Underneath the Reddit threads and the Instagram posts, the sight of Luka Dončić, one of the NBA’s most exhilarating players, in Los Angeles Lakers’ purple and gold invariably leads to at least one person making the same observation.
“I can’t believe this really happened.”
Yes, Dončić really got traded to the Lakers. And yes, the shockwaves from the trade still reverberate around the NBA and its fans.
But Saturday, the fallout from one of the most consequential trades in league history should help remedy that disbelief.
Dončić signed a contract extension with the Lakers, the team announced Saturday. He received a three-year extension worth up to $165 million, according to a league source, firmly placing him as the focal point of one of the NBA’s marquee franchises and setting him up to get a five-year, $400 million-plus contract offer from the Lakers in 2028. He will have a player option for 2028, his 10th year in the NBA, making him eligible for the massive deal.
Dončić was in Los Angeles on Saturday as part of a three-city American tour with Jordan Brand. He’s expected back in Slovenia this week to begin training with the national team ahead of the EuroBasket competition that begins at the end of August.
I just signed my extension with the Lakers. Excited to keep working to bring championships to LA and make Laker Nation proud. Grateful to the Lakers, my teammates and all the fans who’ve shown so much love since day one. This is just the beginning. 💜💛 pic.twitter.com/PrTfTxxlpU
— Luka Doncic (@luka7doncic) August 2, 2025
Dončić’s deal comes less than two months after Jeanie Buss agreed to sell controlling interest of the Lakers to Mark Walter at a $10 billion evaluation, the richest franchise sale in professional sports.
Los Angeles acquired Dončić last February in a trade with Dallas for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first-round draft pick. In 28 games with the Lakers, Dončić averaged 28.2 points, 8.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists as he dealt with shellshock from the trade and an attempt to return to form after missing 22 games with a calf injury suffered on Dec. 25 as a member of the Mavericks.
Frustration with the injury and his approach to recovery were among the reasons Dallas traded the 26-year-old star.
“For the first time, I took my time to get it to heal 100 percent,” Dončić said in his introductory news conference with the Lakers. “Other times, I think I just wanted to go back on the court playing basketball and not really be healthy 100 percent. So this time, I just took my time, which was a normal amount of time to get back to 100 percent.”
Led by Dončić, LeBron James and Austin Reaves, the Lakers finished the season with 50 wins and the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.
Dončić wasn’t 100 percent throughout his first stretch with the Lakers. During a first-round loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, he dealt with an illness in Game 3 while scoring just 17 points. After the Lakers were eliminated in Game 5, he pointed to the mental toll the trade had taken on him.
“I’m mentally kind of exhausted from everything that happened,” Dončić said. “A lot of people won’t believe me, but I am. So I just think now is the time to process everything, everything to it.”
Before leaving for Europe this offseason, Dončić and Lara Beth Seager, his chief brand officer and business manager, met with Lakers president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka and Lakers coach JJ Redick to discuss future plans for the organization.
Following Redick’s organization-wide challenge to improve conditioning, photos of Dončić looking noticeably slimmer began appearing online. League sources said Dončić adopted a stricter diet and conditioning plan than he had in prior summers, with the trade from Dallas (and the Mavericks’ reasoning) adding fuel.
While some wondered whether Dončić would decline a contract extension and push to unrestricted free agency in 2026, the Lakers were confident in the early stages of their relationship with Dončić and his team.
Dončić and the Lakers agreed that the team needed to add a starting center who could play above the rim and in the pick-and-roll. The team added former No. 1 pick DeAndre Ayton after he was bought out by Portland, and Dončić played a role in Ayton’s recruitment.
The Lakers also wanted to find shooting and defensive versatility on the wing, and while they lost Dončić’s friend Dorian Finney-Smith to Houston in free agency, they quickly pivoted to 23-year-old Jake LaRavia.
Still needing more defensive toughness, the Lakers waited for Marcus Smart and the Washington Wizards to reach a contract buyout. Dončić, again, acted as a recruiter for the Lakers to secure Smart’s services.
“When you get a guy like Luka, calling, referencing, checking on you, trying to see where you at … to see if you want to come and join something special that he’s trying to cook up over here, for him to say that he can really use my help, that meant a lot,” Smart said after signing with the Lakers.
It also cemented what the Lakers had believed when they traded for Dončić in February: He’d invest in them just like they wanted to invest in him.
Saturday, those hopes became realized. The Lakers and Dončić are moving forward together in a pairing that’s becoming easier and easier to believe.
(Photo: David Berding / Getty Images)
