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Lakers coach JJ Redick raised eyebrows ahead of media day when he said the Lakers could become a championship-level team this season.
Well, the franchise’s superstar echoes that sentiment.
When did Luka Doncic begin thinking that?
“Since the first day,” Doncic said at Lakers practice Saturday. “That simple. Since the first day everybody came together in Slovenia — except Cam [Carr] couldn’t make [it] — I believed that we can win a championship.”
Doncic should feel that way. He had his fingerprints all over the team’s roster moves last summer.
The 26-year-old Doncic wanted to play alongside Austin Reaves, whom the Lakers signed to a four-year, $180 million contract. the richest contract in NBA history for a player who went undrafted.
Doncic wanted Walker Kessler to be his franchise center. The Lakers went on to acquire him in a sign-and-trade deal from Utah, giving up two unprotected first-round picks and two first-round pick swaps, signing him to a four-year, $130 million contract.
The Lakers added nine new players this offseason, completely overhauling their roster after they were swept out of the second round of the playoffs by the Thunder in May.
Doncic was sidelined all of last postseason because of a strained left hamstring he suffered during a regular-season game against the Thunder on April 2.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Doncic recently acknowledged he regretted playing through the injury when it first began to bother him in the second quarter of that game. After all, he thought the soaring Lakers who had gone on a 16-2 run had a chance to compete for the Larry O’Brien trophy back then, too.
“Obviously, I thought we had a team that could compete for a championship, so it was kind of disappointed, kind of let the team down,” Doncic said. “So it’s definitely motivating for this season.”
Doncic wants to win his first championship and catapult the 17-time championship Lakers back atop the league after they failed to get past the second round of the playoffs the last three years. They’ve gotten younger. They’ve gotten faster.
And after LeBron James left for the 76ers in free agency last summer, the Lakers unequivocally became his team.
He has taken that responsibility very seriously. For the first time in his career, Doncic hosted a minicamp in Slovenia in August, paying for the entire team to come to his home country so it could build chemistry ahead of the season.
Apparently, his investment paid off.
When they arrived and began scrimmaging, Doncic immediately began believing the Lakers could be special.
So special, that he believes they have a chance to hang their 18th banner.
