Lakers are 'really confident' Luka Doncic will agree to extension
Luka Doncic will be eligible to sign a contract extension on Aug. 2, and the Lakers can offer him $228 million over four years. He is currently preparing to represent his native Slovenia in the upcoming Eurobasket tournament, and he will not return to the States until very late in the offseason.
It isn't necessarily a foregone conclusion that Doncic will agree to an extension before the start of the 2025-26 season, and if he doesn't, he can opt out of his current contract next summer. But Dan Woike of The Athletic told Colin Cowherd during an appearance on "The Herd with Colin Cowherd" that the franchise is very confident it will get the superstar to sign on the dotted line soon.
'It's gonna be early August. He's extension eligible Aug. 2. I think they're really confident, Colin. I think they've been in contact with him early in the summer about their plans for the organization. I think when they made the deal to get him, I think they were confident that they would be able to secure him in the long term. There are things about Los Angeles to not like. Nobody likes the traffic here and stuff like this. But the one thing we know about Luka Doncic is, well two things we know about him. One, he loves the big stage, and it's a huge stage. What's a bigger stage than playing at Crypto.com in front of those stars? And I think the second part of it is like, this is like a guy that doesn't necessarily love being famous. And you might think Los Angeles, well it's full of famous people. You can move pretty anonymously as a famous person in Los Angeles should you choose because there's always someone else famous in your circle and stuff like that. I think he's really comfortable there. I'm pretty sure the Lakers are gonna be able to secure an extension, it's just kind of a matter of for how long.'
Doncic averaged 28.2 points, 8.1 rebounds and 7.5 assists a game and shot 37.9% from 3-point range in 28 regular-season games with L.A. after being traded there on Feb. 1. He has gotten himself into better shape this offseason after facing lots of criticism for his lack of fitness and conditioning, and Woike reported that the superstar has been "Incredibly committed" to his conditioning and diet.
This new dedication could result in an enhanced version of Doncic moving forward, and the Lakers could reap the benefits as long as they get him to agree to some sort of extension soon.
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