Luka Doncic Discussion: Lean Mean Slovenian Extension Machine

“Backstreet Boys?”
Looks like a way to try and pretend to be relevant when your time has passed 30 years ago.

 

ouch

 

Bye bye bye

 

Sources: LeBron James congratulated Luka Doncic on new deal

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/45901153/sources-lebron-james-congratulated-luka-doncic-new-deal

 

In before someone twists Lebron's words like a pretzel.

 

Lebron trying to prove he's a great guy

 

Like right above? Good job though you beat him.

 

lebron and luka clearly like and respect each other. lebron's issues are with the FO. sorta like DFS and luka love each other, but DFS and the FO have different priorities. life is like this sometimes.

 

Was reviewing some Luka quotes from the signing, and didn't see these quotes posted in thread. You probably heard or read them in articles, but they're worth highlighting here:

 

I'm hopeful their mutual respect and early signs of chemistry on the floor translate to a really great season. Luka is good for a 50 win season with our roster sans Lebron. Lebron probably could do something similar.

I'm anticipating 50-54 wins and the 3rd or 4th seed again year. I think it'll go something like this:

OKC - 65ish wins
DEN - 55ish
HOU - 55ish
LAL - 52ish
MIN - 50ish
LAC - 50ish
DAL - 50ish
SAS - 45ish
GSW - 45ish
MEM - 40ish
POR - 40ish
PHX - 40ish

I think the west is going to be an absolute blood bath this year. I think the Pelicans and Kings blow it up at the deadline, Memphis and Phoenix should do the same. Some names that could be available:

Zion
Herb Jones or Trey Murphy (one of them)
Dejounte Murray
Saddiq Bey
Jordan Poole

Devin Carter
Derozan
Keon Ellis
Fultz
Sabonis
Keegan Murray
Malik Monk
Schroeder

 

60 wins or it's a lost season

 

Agree with most. There are 3 teams with significant deviations from Vegas win totals. Those are:

Dallas - 40ish in Vegas. I agree more with you and think it will be closer to 50 than 40, assuming reasonable health from AD and everyone outside of Kyrie.

Portland - 33ish in Vegas. I agree more with Vegas and think it will be closer to 33 than 40.

Phoenix - 31ish in Vegas. I agree more with Vegas and think it will be closer to 31 than 40.

Like you said, West too tough. And with Dallas, Denver, and San Antonio increasing their wins, they have to come from somewhere, so I think Portland and Phoenix will be sub-par and not a nearly 0.500 team. I guess Minnesota could dip a little too, and Utah could flirt with all time lows.

 

Let me preface this by saying I don’t like him, but I think Devin Booker is going to have an MVP caliber season. Something like 30/8. It’ll be one of those Harden carry jobs with lots of FTs and media attention. I expect Brooks, Mark Williams and Jalen Green to have positive seasons. They might not break 40, but I think they’re between 35-40.

Portland is coming up, they’ve got a great young core and the secret weapon in the regular season is just playing hard. They finished with 36 wins last year, I don’t expect them to regress with internal growth - Jrue also helps them out and alongside Camara and Clingan they should have a formidable defense alongside a lot of youthful energy.

Dallas is a bit of a wild card, but they’ll just win a good chunk of games based on size.

Russell (6’4) / Irving (6’3)
Christie (6’6) / Klay (6’6)
Flag (6’10) / Nanji (6’7)
AD (6’11) / PJ (6’8)
Lively (7’1) / Gafford (6’11)

They’re just a big team. They’ve got some playmaking issues without Irving that means they won’t be a top of the heap. But on about 40 nights AD will just go supernova and do a 30/10 with elite defense. They’ve also got some good shooting.

 

Agree about Dallas, as mentioned earlier. And you could be right about Portland and Phoenix too, I could see it. Just saying that the wins have to come from somewhere, so where do they come from? Last season the West won 638 games. Your estimates are at 587 wins for 12 teams. If the other 3 teams do what they did last season (78 wins), that's 665 wins, which is 27 more than last season. Even if the other 3 teams win fewer games than last season, it wouldn't be 27 games worse, so some other teams can't be quite as high as estimated.

Also, for Portland and Phoenix to be nearly 0.500, that means that if they win most of their games against the bottom 3 but lose most of their games against the top 3, then they still have to be nearly breakeven against the #4-9 teams. But they just don't seem in the same tier as the Lakers, Minnesota, Clippers, Golden State, Dallas, SA.

 

why is lebron facetiming luka to congratulate him on the new deal "news"?

the media sure are pathetic

 

Yeah but Bron channeled Shaq and actually BA’d him with the phone and rapped, “Luka .. Luka tell me how does my … …… “

 

Lebron trying to avoid heat after not welcoming new players to the team. Mr. Senthitive.

 

Inside Luka Dončić’s U.S. tour: From Lakers extension to a surprise Backstreet Boys concert
Dan Woike
Aug. 5, 2025Updated 8:46 am PDT
22

LOS ANGELES — The sun had set on Sunday night and a very tired Luka Dončić was thinking about getting on a plane and flying home.

Eight days earlier, he’d flown from Slovenia to New York City for a three-city U.S. tour that ended here, on an L.A. rooftop in the city where he just committed to spend his prime. That part, the timing of this all, was a bit of a happy accident. The New York-to-Chicago-to-Los Angeles tour actually had been scheduled before the Dallas Mavericks decided to trade him to the Los Angeles Lakers.

So Sunday night, here he was, on the last stop on the tour, judging a dunk contest and watching one-on-one battles as part of “The One,” Jordan Brand’s global tournament. After a week full of interviews, appearances and commercial shoots, this was all that was standing between him and the peacefulness of a 13-hour flight to Ljubljana, Slovenia.

“Exhausted,” he said of his current state.

But then he heard it — one of the players, Kaiden Bailey, scream “He can’t f—ing guard me” to the crowd and his opponent after a bucket — and a jolt of energy shot through Dončić. A diabolical grin parked on his face as the fans erupted.



Dončić looks on during the dunk contest at Jordan Brand’s “The One” tournament. (Dan Woike / The Athletic)
Dončić, more than anyone on that rooftop, could relate.

It was another moment that solidified that Dončić was right where he was supposed to be — with a new team in a new city with a new opportunity. He formalized all of that Saturday, signing a three-year contract extension with the Lakers on the first day they were able to offer it to him.

He signed that deal, presented to him in custom purple-and-black folders with his name and the Lakers’ logo in opposite corners, with a phrase his management team had chosen on a video screen behind him — “The Beginning.”

Messaging, as much as anything, was a goal for Dončić over the past week. His reputation was bruised after Dallas traded him to Los Angeles in February. His professional footing had been totally undone, plans of someday retiring with the Mavericks voided with a single phone call.

After the Lakers were eliminated in the first round against Minnesota, Dončić said he was “mentally kind of exhausted from everything that happened.” But that wasn’t the version of him that returned to the U.S. for this tour.

Lara Beth Seager, Dončić’s manager, said he’s no longer carrying any baggage from his exit from Dallas.

“He’s moved on,” she told The Athletic.

Dončić underwent a physical transformation this offseason, fasting 16 hours a day and adhering to strict diet and workout plans. He detailed the plans in a cover story for Men’s Health Magazine that served as the tone-setter for his trip. He spoke about the changes during a New York Yankees broadcast and in an appearance on “The Today Show.”

While in New York, Dončić and his team dined at Cecconi’s and The Corner Store. He also taped an episode of “Hot Ones” and visited the Statue of Liberty for the first time. At the Yankees game, Dončić met with new Lakers owner Mark Walter for the first time. Dončić also surprised league employees by visiting the NBA’s New York headquarters.

After a quick stop in Chicago, Dončić was on to Los Angeles with the Lakers’ extension offer waiting for him — with little drama ever looming about the Lakers’ ability to get him to commit.

“I think it was always known that, when Luka was traded here, it’s, ‘He’s here now,’” Seager said. “He wants to win where he is, and it’s important that he wins and that we’re working together with the team so we’re not waiting. His mindset has never been to hop around. His mindset is to win championships.

“His mindset is to build where he is and to work together. And as long as he’s signed with a team, it’s a marriage and you treat it like a marriage. And marriages have hard times and good times, but you’re loyal and you’re faithful to each other through it all. And that’s just who Luka is. I don’t think he ever thought. ‘I’m not signing my extension.’”

Saturday, Dončić arrived at the team’s facility before 7 a.m, for a workout prior to signing the extension. Unaware that Seager and the Lakers had planned a surprise trip to Las Vegas later that night to see the Backstreet Boys at The Sphere, Dončić blared the boy band’s music throughout the Lakers’ facility — another sign that the organization and its star were, um, in sync.

After the workout, he met with members of his team before officially signing the deal. Dončić announced the transaction himself on his social media accounts while pledging $5 million in grants (and mentorship) to 77 young athletes in need.

When the Lakers opened their doors for the celebratory news conference a few hours later, reporters were met by a custom-built photo wall with moments from Dončić’s draft night, national team and brief time with the Lakers.



He continued his work to connect with the Lakers’ fan base. Dončić had previously donated money toward wildfire relief and to restore a Kobe Bryant mural. Saturday, he deliberately opened his news conference by addressing Lakers fans in Spanish.

“And that’s it,” he joked. “No English.”

After the news conference, Dončić found out about the plans to attend the Backstreet Boys concert and that he’d be joined by not just his family and friends, but by teammates and members of the organization including Jeanie Buss and Walter. Buss, who usually prefers a low profile at press conferences, sat in the back of the media seats to watch Dončić and general manager Rob Pelinka answer questions about the deal.

She later joined Dončić in Las Vegas with Walter, head coach JJ Redick and a number of teammates to celebrate his new beginning.

“He’s only looking forward. And he’s here. He wants to get the best players here. He wants to win, and he knows it starts with him,” Seager said. “And I think that’s what he proved this offseason. ‘OK, everyone wants to say or people think that they know me or I’m not a leader or I’m this way, or I’m that way, I don’t care. They can think and say whatever they want.

“I’m gonna show them who I am.’”

And whether it was meeting privately with Walter in New York or with morning TV viewers on “The Today Show,” whether it was signing sneakers at the NBA Store, hitting trick shots at Dyckman Park in Manhattan or grinning at the trash talk in Los Angeles, Dončić was more like himself than he was when he last was in the states.

Since the Lakers were eliminated, Dončić has deprived himself, trimming his diet of more than sugary foods. He’s also refrained from any real live basketball. Late Sunday, he boarded a plane to join the Slovenian national basketball team as they begin a tune-up schedule ahead of the 2025 FIBA EuroBasket championships which begin later this month.

The first scrimmage he has with the team will be his first live five-on-five action since the Lakers were bounced.

“I miss basketball,” he told Seager on their way to dinner at Carbone in Las Vegas.

From the grin he had on his face Sunday on that roof, a smile that fought through all the fatigue from the jam-packed promotional tour and an impromptu Vegas celebration, it was obvious that he can’t wait to get back on the court.

And for the next three years — and maybe more — the court that he’ll call home will be in Los Angeles with the Lakers.

 

I wish i could like this 10 times

What a class person

We are so fortunate to have such a great individual on our favorite team

Go Luka!

Gi Lakers!