LeBron James is 39 years old, and the time is now for the Los Angeles Lakers to prepare for life without his presence on the roster. According to The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor, the franchise has set its sights on Luka Doncic as the next leading star.
“I’ve reported on this podcast and on The Ringer how they have their sights set for Luka in the future,” said O’Connor on The Ringer NBA Show. “We’ll see if that works out. Dallas just made the Finals. Dallas is looking better than ever with their supporting cast. That may not work out. But the Lakers, by not trading their future picks, clearly they’re still thinking long-term at this point. They’re not going all in like you might expect many teams to do with LeBron James.”
As a team with a history of success and glory, the Lakers are in the business of attracting stars, and it never takes them tooling to find their next big performer. With LeBron James locked in for another two years, the Lakers still have time to maximize the current core with James, Anthony Davis, and young guard Austin Reaves.
But if the Lakers want to avoid a steep decline when LeBron retires, they need to start making preparations now and think about how they might add their next franchise player. Anthony Davis, at 31, is probably not the best choice for the Lakers to build their future around but Luka Doncic would be the perfect answer.
The 25-year-old guard has become a proper star for the Mavericks. In just six years, Doncic has proven himself as not only a worthy face of his franchise but also as one of the best players in the game itself. Last season, the best of his career, Luka finished third in MVP voting with averages of 33.9 points, 9.8 assists, and 9.2 rebounds per game on 48% shooting.
He and his co-star, Kyrie Irving, took the Mavericks to the NBA Finals before losing to Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and the stacked Boston Celtics. Clearly, Luka is the type of player who can carry teams to championships and he’s young enough to play elite basketball for another decade or more.
Unfortunately for the Lakers, Doncic is far from available right now. Besides coming off a Finals appearance, he’s locked into a 3-year, $136 million contract and the earliest he can leave is 2026 if he opts out of his deal and becomes a free agent.
The best hope for Rob Pelinka is that the situation with the Mavericks turns ugly and that Luka ends up forcing his way out. With several draft picks stocked up and some solid role players to trade, the Lakers could make a compelling offer if the time comes.
But unless Luka makes it happen, the Lakers might be better off looking elsewhere for their future superstar. Generally seen as the most attractive team to players, the Lakers have never had problems recruiting top talent and that trend should continue long after LeBron’s final game.
As these next two seasons play out, the Lakers will do whatever they can to maximize what’s left of LeBron’s career. Behind the scenes, they will also be working to plan for the future and that starts with finding the next great superstar to lead the way to prosperity.
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