For Luka Doncic, "running it back" in the 2026-27 NBA season isn't an option.
Upon the Los Angeles Lakers' playoff elimination, Doncic now expects team management to live up to reported "promises" it made him before he signed a three-year, $165 million extension nine months ago.
Doncic did not play a single minute of playoff basketball after he suffered a hamstring strain against the Oklahoma City Thunder on April 2. Six weeks later, that same Thunder team swept the Lakers out of the playoffs with a 115-110 win on Monday night.
MORE: Lakers predicted to cut ties with Austin Reaves, acquire $175 million Bucks 10-time All-Star
The second-round sweep obviously brings a myriad of questions about LeBron James' future with the Lakers. But Los Angeles also has to worry about satisfying Doncic's ambition to win a championship.
According to Sam Amick and Dan Woke of The Athletic, Doncic expects the Lakers to retain Austin Reaves as just the start of a significant retool this summer. That retool sounds like it's going to cost Los Angeles a lot of money -- and it will shuffle a lot of players in and out of the Lakers' locker room.
"The promises made to Dončić and his representatives before he signed an extension with the Lakers weren’t to have one good month. And they weren’t to undertake a slow build, to count on marginal improvements built by continuity and internal growth. The plans were bigger," Amick and Woike write. "Those promises were to give him a locker room full of his type of players, to find him replicants, if not improvements, of the balanced roster he made a finals run with in Dallas in 2024 before the stunning trade that sent him west."
Luka Dončić reportedly does NOT want the Lakers to trade Austin Reaves for Giannis Antetokounmpo, per @TheAthletic
“Multiple league sources said that belief was best illustrated when Doncic told people within the organization that he wouldn’t want Reaves included in any… pic.twitter.com/VVHUAnsdOF
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) May 12, 2026
In short, according to one league source, the Lakers are "on the clock" to build a contender that suits Doncic.
Reportedly, the Lakers are looking to sign athletic wings, lob threats and a secondary playmaker to take some of the burden off Doncic, the NBA's leading scorer this season.
It won't be easy, and the Lakers do not want to risk discord centered on Doncic. But if they nail this offseason, Los Angeles will be closer to challenging the Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs atop the Western Conference next year.
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