When the Los Angeles Lakers traded for Luka Doncic in 2025, he joined a roster that was built around Anthony Davis and LeBron James. It's the unfortunate truth that the Lakers have been unable to overcome in the 15 months since, as many of those supporting players were signed to long-term deals.
After spending the first full season of the Doncic era hoping that minimal changes could be enough to support him, the Lakers finally have the clean slate they need to actually build around him.
Los Angeles entered the 2025 offseason with limited cap space, no first-round draft pick, and a dire need for roster improvements. It did what it could, signing the trio of Deandre Ayton, Jake LaRavia, and Marcus Smart, and trading up at the NBA Draft to land Adou Thiero in the second round.
The Lakers even made an in-season move for sharpshooter Luke Kennard, who showed flashes of brilliance during his brief tenure with the team.
The inescapable reality that Doncic was forced to live in, however, was one that effectively asked him to play with Davis' supporting cast. Considering Davis is an interior-based big man and Doncic is a perimeter-oriented guard, their respective needs were never going to be met by an all but identical roster.
With only six players on guaranteed contracts for the 2026-27 season, however, the Lakers have a surplus of cap space, a first-round draft pick, and a clean slate upon which they can finally build around Doncic.
Lakers can finally build a roster that's catered to Luka Doncic
Los Angeles will have the No. 25 overall selection in the 2026 NBA Draft. That's reason enough to celebrate, as the purple and gold have a dire need for youth, athleticism, and developable talent on team-friendly contracts.
Once the NBA Draft passes, the Lakers will enter a period of free agency in which they'll be able to combine rare and extensive cap space with the selling point of playing with Doncic.
As it stands, only Doncic at $49.5 million, Jarred Vanderbilt at $12,428,571, LaRavia at $6 million, Dalton Knecht at $4,201,080, and Adou Thiero at $2,150,917 have fully guaranteed salaries for the 2026-27 season. Bronny James has a partial guarantee of $1,258,873 and a full salary of $2,296,271.
Ayton and Smart have player options that combine for less than $13.5 million in 2026-27, and Austin Reaves is expected to decline his own worth $14,898,786 in favor of a lucrative multi-year deal.
Cap hits will go a long way toward defining Los Angeles' true flexibility, but there's a realistic world in which they make multiple significant signings and then capitalize on having potentially returning players' bird rights. In that scenario, the Lakers could greatly improve the quality of the rotation and build a roster that's actually meant to work around Doncic in specific.
Doncic and the Lakers did what they could to overcome these adverse conditions, but this summer, they'll finally build the team they were unable to for his first full season as the franchise player.
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