With only one assured 12 months left on his contract, there’s no telling whether or not Luka Doncic will probably be with the Lakers previous his present deal — or if LeBron James will, both, for that matter.
ESPN NBA Insider Brian Windhorst spoke on ESPN’s “Get Up” on Tuesday concerning the totally different hurdles that Los Angeles may face in attempting to retain Doncic.
“It’s not a guarantee, for sure, that Luka’s going to rip off a five-year deal in July,” Windhorst mentioned. “He may want to see how things play out.”
With James’ age (40), the group’s future lies on Doncic’s shoulders.
Following the commerce, although, the Lakers’ roster definitely isn’t stacked with attractive items from high to backside, significantly within the frontcourt with out Anthony Davis.
“The Lakers have to do some work over the next few months to convince [Doncic] he wants to get locked in,” Windhorst mentioned. “They are not a complete team.”
Earlier than the commerce, there weren’t essentially any questions on whether or not Doncic was going to signal a supermax extension with the Mavericks when his contract ends a 12 months from now.
Doncic has additionally since expressed that he by no means indicated to Dallas that he wasn’t going to signal a deal.
“Luka has one year left on his contract and we all assumed that Luka was going to re-sign in Dallas,” Windhorst mentioned. “It’s never once been brought up in my life about Luka’s contract.”
There’s not that very same certainty surrounding Doncic’s future plans.
“[The Lakers] don’t get the supermax privilege,” Windhorst mentioned. “They can’t give him that $350 million, they can offer him $100 million less.”
As for James, Windhorst notes that James has an choice in his contract for subsequent season.
“I have no belief that LeBron wants anything more than just to be a Laker, but LeBron’s contract status is not settled,” he mentioned.
All eyes will probably be on the Lakers as soon as Doncic and James take the ground collectively, however time will inform if this period of the Lake Present will final any additional than the rest of this season.
“We have to just watch and see how it all plays out,” Windhorst mentioned.
