Luka Doncic has made it painfully clear to the Los Angeles Lakers that he wants to compete for a championship. Considering he reached the NBA Finals during his last full season with the Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles is likely unsurprised by the immediacy of his ambitious goal.
After watching the Milwaukee Bucks trade their own superstar in Giannis Antetokounmpo, however, it must sink in that the Lakers' time with Doncic will depend on their ability to build a contender.
The Bucks won a championship with Antetokounmpo just five years ago. It felt like the beginning of something special, particularly when the team won 51 games the next season and 58 the year after that. Unfortunately, it was over just as soon as it began.
If the Lakers fail to put a contender around Doncic, it's realistic to believe they'll experience a similar result as the joy of acquiring him in 2025 could be extinguished if they fail to fulfill their promise to help him contend in 2026-27.
Per Dave McMenamin of ESPN, the Lakers promised Doncic meaningful growth toward contending during the summer of 2026—and now the summer of 2026 has arrived.
"Luka wants to be a championship team yesterday," a source close to Doncic said. "Ever since the trade, they've always told us: 'summer of '26. We'll show you in the summer of '26.' So, we are so excited that the summer of '26 is here."
If the Antetokounmpo trade has proven anything, it's that even a team that's won a title fairly recently can lose their best player—and the Lakers haven't won anything with Doncic.
Giannis trade a wake-up call that the Lakers can realistically lose Luka
Los Angeles acquired Doncic in a trade that he didn't request, let alone expect. He's adapted well to his new environment, but the manner in which he became a Laker is an uncomfortable fact that plays into any conversation about what a future might look like for both franchise and player.
Doncic is seemingly sincere in how open he is to competing for a championship with the Lakers, but if they fail to succeed in doing so, the prestige of the franchise may not be enough to convince him to stay.
Thankfully, the Lakers have the opportunity to create significant cap space and make necessary improvements to a deeply flawed roster. A season ago, they ranked dead last in catch-and-shoot three-point field goals made and faced consistent questions in regard to their quality at the center position.
Los Angeles has reportedly made promises to address both issues and provide Doncic with the type of spacing and interior support he had when he made the NBA Finals with Dallas in 2024.
If the Lakers fail to fulfill their promises to Doncic, however, then keeping him in Los Angeles could prove to be a difficult task. He'll be eligible for unrestricted free agency in 2028. At that point, asking him to remain patient as a 29-year-old who hypothetically still hasn't won a title will be an almost impossible sell if real progress toward a championship hasn't been made.
Trading for Doncic was an exhilarating experience, but if they fail to fulfill their promises and answer his prayers of competing for a championship, he may just follow Antetokounmpo's lead.
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