The Los Angeles Lakers are signing Luka Dončić to a long-term extension, the team announced on Saturday. It’s a three-year, $165 million contract extension, with a player option in 2028, according to multiple reports. The deal comes six months after the Lakers acquired Dončić in a stunning February trade with the Dallas Mavericks. NBA rules limit the amount of money a player can earn on an extension in the immediate aftermath of a trade, so Dončić had to wait to sign the extension.
While this deal does represent the maximum per-year salary Dončić could earn with the Lakers, it is still a far smaller contract than the one he would have been eligible for this offseason had he remained with the Mavericks. By virtue of his All-NBA selections in 2023 and 2024, Dončić was eligible for a supermax contract extension. Such a deal could have gone for five years, and it could have started at 35% of the salary cap rather than the 30% Dončić will get with the Lakers.
“I just signed my extension with the Lakers,” Doncic wrote on social media. “Excited to keep working to bring championships to L.A. and make Laker Nation proud. Grateful to the Lakers, my teammates and all the fans who’ve shown so much love since day one. This is just the beginning.”
Based on current cap projections, such a deal could have paid Dončić roughly $335.9 million over five seasons. However, the supermax is only available to players on the teams that drafted them or on teams that acquired them within the first four years of their career. As Dončić joined the Lakers in the middle of his seventh NBA season, he was bound by standard veteran extension guidelines.
His loss is his team’s gain. The Dončić trade was widely considered one of the most one-sided in NBA history when it was completed during the season, and now, the Lakers don’t just have Dončić, they have him locked into a multi-year deal at a lower price than he would have garnered in Dallas. That will mean quite a bit for their long-term plan of putting a championship team around Dončić.
Even with Dončić’s new contract accounting for a moderately expensive cap hold for key free agent Austin Reaves, the Lakers are currently positioned to generate significant cap space in the summer of 2026. They can use that to remake their roster in free agency if they like, or they could use that financial flexibility to help them try to trade for a superstar to put next to Dončić. Getting Dončić a running mate appears to be the long-term plan at the moment, with an eye also set on retaining max cap space in 2027, when Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokić are currently slated to become free agents.
In the interim, the Lakers have arguably improved upon last year’s 50-win roster. While they lost key wing and Dončić’s close friend Dorian Finney-Smith, they replaced him with former Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart after a buyout with the Washington Wizards. They played the end of last season with a gaping hole at center, but they signed former No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton to fill it. Throw in under-the-radar addition Jake LaRavia, and the Lakers have a roster that should be competitive in the Western Conference.
That will be especially true if they get the best version of Dončić. While his stats were strong in Los Angeles, they fell from the level they reached during his third-place MVP finish in 2024, when the Mavericks reached the Finals. That could be attributed to a number of factors. Dončić hurt his calf while still playing in Dallas. The shock of moving in the middle of the season couldn’t have helped, and while the Lakers were a very talented team, the fit was a bit unusual, as they were loaded with ball-handling with LeBron James and Austin Reaves already on the roster.
The motivation behind moving Dončić for Dallas was seemingly based in part on his health and fitness, with the Mavericks fearing his conditioning habits would make it impossible for him to defend at a high enough level to win a championship or sustain his peak into his 30s. However, by all accounts, Dončić is currently in the best shape of his career and ready to help the Lakers try to win the 2026 championship.
Even if they don’t, they now have the security of knowing that Dončić is locked in for longer. Dončić wanted to remain in Dallas, but now that he’s a Laker, he’s seemingly committed to making this partnership work. The Lakers hope he’ll never wear another uniform, and this contract is a good starting point toward that goal.
