BREAKING: Lakers supporters awaken to the terrible news about Luka Doncic.

It appears as though the Los Angeles Lakers are prepared to move past LeBron James and enter the Luka Doncic era. That is very understandable considering his young, promise, and the sacrifices they made to acquire him. Nevertheless, that is also the reason why it is so important for Rob Pelinka and the business to persuade him to sign a contract extension. ESPN source Tim McMahon regrettably thinks it will be a long time before the team convinces him to sign a contract. The reason for this is Doncic’s contract:

The whole reason [Doncic’s extension eligibility date is] August 2nd and not like July 2nd is because it has to be timed to when the contract was signed,” McMahon revealed on The Hoops Collective.

McMahon added that Doncic has made it a priority to play with the national team, so he’s not going to get into contract extension talks until after EuroBasket is over:

“The reason the contract was signed August 2nd is because his deal with the Mavericks was, ‘Hey, I’m going to go play for Slovenia. This is the year they qualify for the Olympics and than made the run in the Olympics and we’ll take care of this after the Olympics.’ So I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he told the Lakers, ‘Hey, EuroBasket is coming and I’m going to play in EuroBasket for my national team, and we’ll take care of this after that,’” he added.

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The 26-year-old superstar could’ve signed a five-year, $345 million supermax contract extension with the Dallas Mavericks.

Unfortunately for him, the trade lowered that number all the way to four years and almost $230 million.

Doncic has a player option after next season, and he’s slated to make nearly $46 million in 2025-26. Getting a long-term deal done should be a no-brainer for both parties, but if this trade proved something, it is that no one is safe in the NBA.