DONCIC LOOKS LIKE A MOVIE STAR, BUT THE LAKERS WILL STRUGGLE IF JAMES LEAVES
Give him credit for cleaning up his look and his act — the least he could do for $165 million (and more) — but without definitive word from James, the Lakers might struggle as Luka takes over the team
His face is flush, his eyes no longer buried by hookah activity and alcohol, with a beard that no longer spills over a double chin. The hair is Melrose Avenue stylish, as in a hotspot named Craig’s where Luka Doncic was told months ago to clean up his look.
He is smiling, with a left forearm covered in tattoos, while his right hand holds a pen that signed a three-year, $165 million extension. It prolongs his Lakers career at least until the summer of 2027, when owner Mark Walter can offer a $323 million deal to his new Shohei Ohtani, unless he signs for $418 million after two more seasons. In his final year at the expanded rate, Doncic would take home $95 million. Jelly Roll, Lizzo, say hello.
This is what they do in the movie business. Role restoration demands Brad Pitt look like a broken-down F1 driver, and it requires Doncic to put on a black suit on the second day of August and look like the franchise’s next basketball legend. Stunningly, the man who used to devour and drink and battle fat memes didn’t eat for 16 hours a day — six days a week. He lost more than belly fat. He is a new person.
“I don’t want to wait,” he told general manager Rob Pelinka and coach JJ Redick that night, according to ESPN, stirring his championship mindset after Dallas-stabbing disarray. “I had a taste of the Finals. I am getting back there. So let’s do whatever we can now.”
What we now know, after viewing Doncic up close after his body was transformed into a godly creature, is that he finally is serious about winning in Los Angeles. Pelinka, as only he can, turned the day into a civic masterpiece. “That is a monumental moment in Lakers history. And we could not be more grateful for you choosing this partnership,” he said to Doncic. “The best young basketball player in the universe joins for the long-term future, the best sports franchise on the globe.”
First, Doncic is not the best young player in the universe after Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dominated the season and won an NBA championship. Second, the Lakers are not the best franchise on the globe when they’ve managed just one title in a COVID bubble since 2010. “Everyone I speak to around the league privately agrees that it doesn’t truly hold up as a genuine championship,” said Philadelphia executive Daryl Morey, adding, “It will forever be marked by an asterisk.” Those are sweet El Segundo dreams intended to make celebrities sleep better, though they aren’t true. At least Doncic realized he was falling backward as he continued to limp around, as Nico Harrison said while trading him, and he wasn’t in the postseason shape to outlast Minnesota in the first round. He is 26.
He has legacies to write, for better or worse. “We’ll just say, you know, it was like a fresh start for me,” Doncic said of his new vigor, as highlighted by a Men’s Health cover story last week. “I had a little more time to get my mind off basketball, just doing other things. So I would just say, like a fresh start for me. Obviously I’ll be a little bit faster. Just trying to help the team condition-wise. Playing a lot of minutes, a lot of games, so I think it’s going to be the best for me.”
What we also know is that LeBron James wasn’t on the premises for the celebration. It remains a possibility that he’ll ask for a trade, knowing he and Doncic rank as maybe the seventh-best team in the Western Conference. I wrote weeks ago that Cleveland, the best team in the East, makes sense for another homecoming. He’s also building a mansion on a hill in Beverly Hills. Will this be a season to wave goodbye throughout the league? Or, might he retire after 22 seasons? When the subject turned to LeBron, Doncic didn’t respond. He’s positioned to replace one of the five best players of all time. Would James ever agree to a secondary role on a team fueled by a player 14 years younger?
He hasn’t said. Agent Rich Paul remains quiet after saying the Lakers “are building for the future,” that the camp wants “to evaluate what’s best for LeBron at this stage in his life and career.” It’s hard to believe James and his business partner, Maverick Carter, want to challenge NBA commissioner Adam Silver and operate an international league in Europe. That’s where he was last week, as Doncic was preparing to sign.
“So all the interactions we’ve had with LeBron and his camp, in particular, have been positive and supportive. So very professional and Rich has been great. The dialogue with him has been open and constant,” Pelinka said. “In terms of LeBron’s career, I think the number one thing we have to do there is respect he and his family’s decision in terms of how long he’s going to play. I think that’s first and foremost and we want to respect his ability to come up with his timetable on that. I think that’s really important, but if he had a chance to retire as a Laker, that would be great.”
Great? The bosses — Walter is the new majority owner, supported by Jeanie Buss — don’t even know his future in August? If not James, these are still the Lakers to some degree. Wouldn’t Giannis Antetokounmpo or Nikola Jokic want to join Doncic at some point? For now, Luka was joined in a Saturday photo with Pelinka, Redick, Deandre Ayton, Marcus Smart, Gabe Vincent, Rui Hachimura, Jaxson Hayes and Adou Thiero. Austin Reaves, who rejected an $89.2 million extension, also wasn’t there.
“I think we have a great team, we have what we need to compete for the championship,” Doncic said. “I’ll try to win every game no matter what and we’ve got some new great guys on the team, so you know we’re going to go for it.”
The local fans, he said, deflected his attention from Dallas, which ultimately changed his life. “The way they received me, the fans, the team — it was unbelievable,” Doncic said. “In that moment, I felt something different.”
If nothing else, he can flex for the crowd. With James on hand all season, the Lakers might win 47 games. Without him, they might sink into the lottery. Maybe Doncic has an immaculate season, but so what? “Just visually, I would say my whole body looks better,” he said. “Obviously, to be the best that I can be, take care of myself. I think we did a huge step. But this is just the start, you know. I need to keep going. Can’t stop.”
The people wouldn’t let him in southern California. Big, chunky, plump?
You lose.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.