LEBRON EMBRACES LUKA AND SHOULD REMAIN A LAKER — DON’T FLEE THIS SUMMER
The front office already is treating Doncic like a favored son, and after a postseason that will be watched closely by the sports world, James could choose another NBA team in free agency — or retire
It had to annoy LeBron James, at least a bit, that the Lakers are treating Luka Doncic like the second coming of Kobe Bryant. “We’ll continue to build, Luka and I,” basketball boss Rob Pelinka said Tuesday, with the golden child beside him. “Get this organization toward a championship level.”
Only four years and change have passed since James led the Lakers to an NBA title. This season, he has pushed his greatness peak beyond any player who has reached 40. He deserves to start the All-Star Game for the Western Conference. He remains the most compelling name in the league, if not quite the best player. Tuesday night, he was brilliant again in a rout of the Clippers, prancing around like someone half his age, prompting Doncic to laugh and applaud on the bench before James joined him. If LeBron wants, he can sign a $52.6 million option and perform with Doncic for the next season and a half.
But anyone who watched Pelinka at the training facility, as owner Jeanie Buss stood nearby, had to sense a new chapter was beginning. Will James even be part of it beyond the postseason? Might he sign a free-agent contract elsewhere? Might he choose a third run in Cleveland, which has the league’s best record? Might he head to Dallas and resume his career with Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving? Might he retire?
That’s why his words were important after the game, which left the Lakers at 29-19. James is liable to change his mind a dozen times between now and this summer, but for now, he’ll play the Luka Game. He is eyeing glory in the playoffs, even if the Lakers don’t have a center beyond Jaxson Hayes. If nothing else, James and Doncic will rule the headlines in Los Angeles and elsewhere.
“If I had concerns, I’d waive my no-trade clause. I’m here right now. I’m committed to the Lakers organization,” James said. “I’m here to help Luka make a smooth transition. Whatever he needs.”
How will that happen?
“It’s gonna be special, I think so,” James said. “It’s gonna attract a lot of eyes. It’s about our ability to score, rebound and pass and create opportunities for teammates. It’s our job to lead the every night. Luka is a big-time player. He’s done some amazing sh— in our league already. It’s a little surreal.
“I’m trying to digest it and what it will look like on the floor. We are two selfless competitors who love seeing the success of our teammates. Luka has been my favorite player in the NBA for a while. I’ve tried to inspire the next generation. This should be a seamless transition. Whatever we want it to be. It will work well together.”
He said the all-time blockbuster deal was merely business, even after losing his close friend, Davis, to the Mavericks. Surely, James has wondered why the league’s owners — and he might be one someday — are prepared to trade superstars in a massacre. “My emotions were all over the place. I was out to dinner with my family, and I got the news, I thought it was a hoax. People were messing around,” he said. “Then AD called me and I talked to him. It still didn’t seem real. It didn’t seem real until I saw Luka talk today and saw AD at the Dallas shootaround.
“I’ve seen it all. I’ve never seen a transition like that. That was different. Literally, AD and I became brothers. We saw each other grow. We saw each other’s kids grow. It was special. I understand the business of basketball, but it was shocking — who was involved. It was definitely a weird, uncomfortable truth moment for us. Very difficult, challenging. I could see the shock he was in.”
His immediate plan will turn Lakers games — at home and on the road — into a potent ticket in sports history. James always has liked Doncic, writing three years ago on social media: “LUKA. He’s my fav player.” When they played against each other for the first time, in 2018, Doncic asked LeBron for his jersey.
“Strive for greatness,” LeBron wrote in a message.
“I mean, it was amazing,” Doncic said. “It was something special for me, for sure. I looked up to him as my idol. It was just great for me. Like I said, it was special, and it will be a day that I remember.”
But already, Pelinka is playing his own Luka Game. Remember, Doncic has one season left on a contract before he likely unloads a player option the following season. Is Pelinka already preparing him for a decade or longer in Los Angeles? What if Doncic chooses to enter free agency in the summer of 2026? Are the Lakers already playing a salary game, knowing he can’t sign the supermax privilege at $345 million and only can offer $100 million less? Might Doncic sign a short-term deal until 2028, which allows the supermax to kick in?
For now, the question becomes whether the Lakers immediately become Doncic’s team. Are Pelinka and coach JJ Redick, who has his job largely because of his podcast with James, in command over a No. 1 and a No. 2 designation? They are almost identical in career numbers for points, rebounds and assists. Each man needs the basketball, all the time. How will sharing work? Does either share?
And when Doncic said earlier, “At some point, I knew this was going to happen,” did he mean a trade in Dallas? Was Pelinka pulling him in with a nice blanket? Welcome to the mad world of the NBA.
LeBron was all but snarling in his first game since the trade. “He’s going full tilt on both ends of the floor,” Redick said. “It would be very easy for him given his resume and accomplishments and, frankly, his bank account to save himself for offense.” If he had a point to make, as Doncic watched, he made it.
If nothing else, James should be pleased with his workplace. The Lakers drafted his son and guaranteed him a $7.9 million contract for four years. Bronny won’t play full-time in the NBA, yet fans are cheering him. At Madison Square Garden, the old man’s favorite arena, the crowd chanted “We want Bronny” as the Lakers were beating the Knicks on Saturday night. He scored — for the second straight game.
“It's probably the greatest thing I've ever been a part of,” said LeBron, who produced a triple-double on national TV.
“In the Garden, getting a bucket here, it felt like the entire Garden was cheering for you,” Bronny said. “It's insane.”
He was more thrilled to watch his father. “It's insane, man. It's insane for anyone to watch it,” Bronny said. “A 40-year-old man to come out and play … but to produce and to play with as much energy as he does, it's insane to see.”
An hour or so later, the call came. Luka Doncic was a Laker, which prompted LeBron to instantly call Doncic after speaking to Davis. They talked briefly. “He said, ‘I understand what you’re feeling,’ ’’ Doncic said. “That was really nice of him to call me right away and welcome me to LA.” He said playing with James “is a 10” in his world. He also wished Bryant were around “to see this moment.” In Dallas, where fans who cancel season tickets are receiving refunds, Kyrie Irving said, “It’s still a grieving process right now. I miss my hermano.”
Whatever happens — and plenty will happen — Doncic is taking “the high road” with his new team. He sat beside Bronny during the game, young men of 25 and 20 marveling at a 40-year-old, and roared when Bronny made his first NBA three-pointer. Wednesday, he will play a five-on-five game with James as his teammate. At some point, maybe Saturday afternoon against Indiana, they’ll be starters at Crypto.com Arena.
We can’t wait to watch.
“It was good to have Luka in the building,” Redick said. “For him, the emotions of it — and some could be negative and could be shocking. He used the word ‘processing’ with me. He is realizing the new normal. That takes time.”
Is the dream ready to blitz us? Or how long before it expires? In a league where Kevin Durant and Jimmy Butler should be traded at any moment?
A season and a half sounds great, even if Charles Barkley says Luka and LeBron won’t play well together. Prove him wrong.
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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.