The Los Angeles Lakers' offseason marked the transition from the LeBron James era to a new chapter centered around Luka Doncic. With this shift, a ton of roster turnover followed as general manager Rob Pelinka made moves to build the team he felt could best maximize Luka’s style of play.
When you go through as much change as the Lakers did this offseason, establishing roles, a pecking order, and leadership can be hard. But it appears Luka has already taken on that role as the team's leader and backbone.
If you’ve unplugged from your Lakers fandom and actually enjoyed the summer, you probably missed that Luka organized a team trip to his home country of Slovenia. Soon after returning, Collin Sexton did an interview with ESPN LA, where he was asked about the trip, and he highlighted Luka’s leadership.
"For Luka to do that, that just shows a true leader. You can tell that's the role that he wants to fall into this season and be the one to lead us,” Sexton said.
To hear a new addition, especially one who will be playing as important of a role as Sexton, come in and highlight Luka’s ability to lead this group is really encouraging.
Collin Sexton's vote of confidence in Luka Doncic could go a long way
Sexton was signed to a two-year deal this offseason and is projected to be the Lakers' sixth man going into next season. He’s coming off a year between Charlotte and Chicago where he averaged 15.4 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game while shooting 40.1 percent from deep.
Sexton has always been a very vocal player, and we saw that last season with a young Hornets team, where he was a leader for them. In LA, that shouldn’t change, especially with him leading the second unit.
To have a player with the voice Sexton can have in a locker room, buying in and being public with the message that Luka is their leader, is a great sign. When someone like him buys in and makes it known that Luka has his full support as a leader, other players are going to fall in line too.
Sexton also wasn’t the only player to echo this statement about Luka being the alpha and everyone falling in line. Kevon Looney also shared a similar message following the Slovenia trip. Two veteran players with significant NBA experience to say Luka is the guy they’re following can only help this group continue to build chemistry.
The most valuable piece of all this is that Luka wants to be a leader. In 2024 with Dallas, that was the first time in his career he really took that role on and embraced the Dallas Mavericks as his team. If you need a reminder, Dallas ended up in the NBA Finals that season—just putting it out there.
With LeBron gone, it was time for Luka to take the mantle as the Lakers’ alpha. The more we hear about the team's recent trip, the more it sounds like he’s doing exactly that.
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