While everyone in the NBA is talking about LeBron James and the possibility of the legendary player taking a trade to leave the Los Angeles Lakers, there’s another superstar player who could also be leaving the Lakers fairly soon. Luka Doncic, who the Lakers just acquired during a trade last season, is eligible to hit free agency next summer and sign a deal with any team in the NBA. For Doncic, the possibilities are really endless.
Doncic really has no ties to Los Angeles, and it came as a shock to him when he was traded from Dallas to L.A. So, there’s no reason to think that he wouldn’t be interested in looking at some other teams and cities, especially if he’s not having a great time with the Lakers. Of course, he seems to be enjoying his time in L.A., but nobody knows how he really feels in his heart.
The Lakers aren’t going to want Doncic to walk, and more than money, they actually have a benefit they could pull out that would entice Doncic to stay with the team for years to come. Whether or not they use it is the question.
The Lakers Could Entice Luka Doncic to Stay
When it’s time to look at Doncic’s contract, the Los Angeles Lakers could pull out a no-trade clause, and after the drama that he went through in Dallas, that might be very appealing to him. He would feel like he could really set up roots in Los Angeles and keep his family in the same city for years.
In a piece published on Saturday, July 19, Josh Cornelissen of Lake Show Life notes, “Given that the Los Angeles Lakers have a secret weapon that will come available down the line, they may just be able to convince Doncic to stick around — and sign a no-trade clause in the process.”
Cornelissen adds that while doing a no-trade clause is a “scary idea” and such clauses are generally a “death knell to a team’s flexibility,” for the Lakers, what’s “even scarier than giving Luka Doncic a no-trade clause is letting him walk in free agency.”
The Numbers Behind the Clause
The Athletic’s John Hollinger notes that if Doncic signs a two-year extension before becoming a free agent and plays that extension to its end, he would have wrapped up four seasons in Los Angeles and a full decade in the NBA.
“That would make him eligible for the supermax contract he surely feels that he deserves, bumping him up to 35 percent of the salary cap,” Cornelissen notes. He’ll also qualify for a no-trade clause, which, as Cornelissen states, is “something which only two players in the NBA currently have,” being LeBron James and Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers.
Even if Doncic prefers to go to a different franchise, without having a no-trade clause, he could have what happened in Dallas happen to him all over again, and he could be traded. Does he really want to go through that again? Probably not, and that’s why a no-trade clause with the Lakers might be just the thing to make him a permeant part of Los Angeles.
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