Luka Doncic hasn’t been shy about wanting to spend his whole career as a Dallas Maverick. That’s a major reason why he was so upset after finding out the news that he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers.
It appears he’s finally fully moved on from the Mavericks. That said, he’s only under Lakers’ control for one more season. After the 2025-26 season, Doncic has a player option. He could choose to opt out and enter free agency if he doesn’t sign a contract extension before.
Luckily for the Lakers, it doesn’t sound like Doncic is going to want to make another dramatic move.
In a recent interview with Malika Andrews of ESPN, Doncic was asked, “Staying in Los Angeles is what you want to do?”
“Yes,” Doncic replied with no hesitation.
Doncic also spoke about how important loyalty is to him. He likely would’ve never left Dallas had they not traded him, and the fact that the Lakers have welcomed him with such open arms has to make him feel better about staying in Los Angeles long term.
Doncic will be eligible to sign an extension with the Lakers this offseason, so it’ll be interesting to see if he’ll already be ready to make that long-term commitment to the team.
Doncic Claps Back at Nico Harrison
It’s almost unheard of for teams to trade away a young superstar like Doncic without him requesting one. The Mavericks were just in the NBA Finals less than a year ago.
Dallas general manager Nico Harrison has avoided the media as much as possible since the trade, but he gave a closed-door press conference to some beat writers recently. He kept saying, “Defense wins championships” as a way to defend the decision.
Doncic hasn’t taken any shots at Harrison or the Mavericks since the deal, and he just wishes they’d stop talking about him negatively.
“It’s just sad the way he’s talking right now,” Doncic told Andrews. “I never say anything bad about him, and I just want to move on. The fans, my ex-teammates, I’ll always keep at heart. It’s time for me to move on from there.”
Doncic was a bit hurt by some of the suggestions out of Dallas that he didn’t work hard and wasn’t willing to play defense.
“I mean, it’s painful, depending on how you take it,” Doncic said. “It mostly came from Dallas, so I didn’t want to talk back. But I don’t really read that much stuff. I’m just trying to focus on my journey.”
Doncic Was Completely Blindsided by Trade
The Doncic trade was very secretive before the news actually broke. That was likely due to the fact that Mavericks knew they’d get a lot of pushback from fans. Not even Doncic had an inkling this was in the works.
He was shocked by the trade when he got the news.
“Sadness, mostly,” Doncic told Andrews. “I was still in shock. Like, crazy shock. I felt like my heart was broken, honestly.”
He wasn’t the only one, as many believe it’s one of the most shocking trades in the history of sports, not just the NBA.
