In one of the most unexpected ways possible, news broke on Thursday that Luka Dončić will sign an extension with the Lakers in early August.
In one of the funniest ways possible, news has come out that Luka Dončić is set to sign an extension with the Lakers.
Luka will be taking part in EuroBasket with Slovenia this summer. Preparation for that will begin in early August. Luka, however, will not begin preparation with the team immediately, which his head coach, Aleksander Sekulic, revealed on Wednesday.
An article from Martin Pavcnik of SportKlub included recent comments from Sekulic, who noted Luka will join the team in early August…after some important other business (emphasis added).
In this light, it becomes crystal clear and reasonable to explain that the first star of the Slovenian national team will join the preparations for EuroBasket 2025 with a delay. Basically, NBA basketball players can prepare with the national team for 28 days. Luka will shorten this period slightly. “I expect him to arrive after August 4, when he has completed all his obligations in the USA,” said coach Aleksander Sekulić yesterday.
As much as things could be literally lost in translation with this article, which was written in Slovenian, it’s not hard to connect the dots on this one.
Luka is eligible to sign an extension with the Lakers on Aug. 2. If he’s delaying joining Slovenia to complete something in America, it’s pretty easy to figure out what that might be.
Pavcnik later reports in the piece that Luka is expected to sign a four-year, $229 million extension. There are some reasons that might be up for debate. For one, it’s hard to know how credible Pavcnik is on this reporting.
But for two, while a four-year, $228.6 million extension is possible, as our own Bryan Toporek detailed, it’s also one he called the least likely for Luka to agree to. Of his potential paths, it’s the one that locks up the most money right now but also costs him some money down the line.
It’s possible this article just accounted for the simplest scenario for an extension.
Any way you slice it, though, this is great news for the Lakers.
President of Basketball Operations Rob Pelinka could breathe a sigh of relief knowing that he didn’t trade away Anthony Davis for just a two-year rental of Luka.
This was the fear he had, or at the very least portrayed, to reportedly talk the Mavericks down when they were asking for two first-round picks in the Luka-AD deal.
In previous years, when Luka had basketball obligations overseas, he didn’t like doing any NBA business until he was done with international play.
Luka signing before even participating in EuroBasket indicates he is just as passionate about this partnership as L.A. is.
Luka has already been named an All-NBA player five times, reached the NBA Finals back in 2024 and has career averages of 28.6 points, 8.6 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game.
Once he officially signs this new deal, he becomes the definitive face of the Lakers.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.