Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - BONUS EPISODE! Luka Dončić Signs Three Year, $165 Million Contract Extension With the Lakers

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to a special bonus edition of Locked-on Lakers. The Luca Dantitch era is officially upon us for the franchise. He has signed his extension. What does that mean moving forward? We'll get into all that coming up next. You are Locked-on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day.

Starting point is 00:00:30 And thanks for making Locked-on Lakers your first listen every day, wherever you get your podcast Monday through Fridays, and occasionally on weekends when the news dictates the necessity. And for the sickos who like to watch, Locked on Lakers is also available on YouTube, a community of over 36,000 subscribers, very active, very engaged, fun, smart community that I have to imagine right now is geeked out of their minds.

Starting point is 00:00:57 Wherever you get your Locked on Lakers, whether audio, never behind a paywall, everywhere you get your podcasts or on YouTube. We appreciate you being here. I am Andy Kim inetsky, co-host of Locked on Lakers, and it is a really exciting day for Lakers fans, for the Lakers franchise, and also for Luca Donchich himself

Starting point is 00:01:17 because he has officially signed an extension with the Lakers on August 2nd, the first day, per CBA rule, that Luca was eligible to sign this extension, The news broke from various breakers, Sham Shirani of ESPN, Mark Stein, the Steinline, who has covered the Dallas Mavericks and the NBA, which leads to the connections he has with Camp Luca for several decades. But there is no better source on the extension being signed than Luca Donchich himself. He tweeted out, quote, I just signed my extension with the Lakers, excited to keep working to bring championships to L.A. and to make Laker Nation proud, grateful to the Lakers, to my teammates, and to all the fans who've shown so much love since day one.

Starting point is 00:02:10 This is just the beginning, then a purple heart and a gold heart. He followed that up with the tweet. Today I'm also committing $5 million to help 77 young athletes around the world chase their dreams just like I did. Basketball gave me everything, and I'm lucky to be able to give back and help the next generation. And this feels just like an extension of what has been really the week or so of Luca Donchich, the tours that he's been doing around the country in New York and in Chicago, touching down in Los Angeles as part of the Jordan one-on-one tournament that he's going to be, that the Nike is doing.

Starting point is 00:02:55 And Luca as a Jordan athlete, he's an ambassador of. But it's also been part of showing off the summer of skinny Luca and the fitness that he has dedicated himself towards that ever since the postseason ended reshaping his body, shredding out, leaning out. And really, I think, just letting everybody know that the prime of Luca Donchich, he's taking it very seriously. He wants to maximize it. He wants to really be the best possible version of himself. But that best possible version is going to be with the Lakers for the foreseeable future from Mark Stein. In talking about Luca's extension, the terms are three years, $165 million. That was the max allowed for the three-year setup. There is a player option in year three.

Starting point is 00:03:55 So it's really a two plus one. and then Mark Stein points out, quote, The option sets Donchich up for a new five-year deal after the 2027, 28 season, potentially worth in excess of $400 million with the 10 years of NBA service time at that point. After the 7 a.m. workout that Luca Donchich took part in this morning at the Lakers facility, Luca and the Lakers made this long-anticipated deal official on the first day allowed. And there really is no surprises about this. I mean, everything had been setting up towards Luca and the Lakers reaching some type of agreement for whatever length Luca wanted with the max piece of this a given.

Starting point is 00:04:42 They were going to give Luca all the money. They were going to give Luca whatever setup he wanted, two plus one, as many years as he can sign, whatever. the Lakers were on board with this, and it has always felt like Luca was on board with it. Every time of late, Luca has been talking about the Lakers. It hasn't just been in present tense. There's been a future tense when he's talked about being excited working with, for example, Mark Walter, when news broke of the sale of the organization from the bus family. There's always a forward-looking nature when he's been doing interviews about, you know,

Starting point is 00:05:20 Skinny Luca and the summer of Shred when he talks about the Lakers. There's always been a forward-looking nature. And as much as it was very clear, the trade by Dallas sucker punched him. And Luca was not expecting this at all. He was as surprised as Laker fans and, frankly, the entire NBA universe was. And it took him a little bit to wrap his mind around the idea of playing for anyone else other than the Dallas Mavericks. He had expected himself to be a Dallas lifer. I think he had to wrap his mind around what felt like a betrayal. But ever since he very clearly wrapped his head around it and found some

Starting point is 00:06:04 degree of closure, or at least as much closure as you can expect for something that is still relatively fresh, Luca has seemed really excited at the prospect of being a Laker. He has shown no outward signs of wavering or second-guessing whether or not he should make this type of commitment. And it was in the days leading up to where we are now, there had been no, there had been no reasons to doubt that this was going to happen. Maybe there was a chance that Luca wasn't going to sign until after Eurobasket was over, and that could take him into late August, early September. but all signs pointed towards this type of commitment. And Laker fans should be excited about this,

Starting point is 00:06:51 A, because you have one of the best players in the league with his prime now committed to the Lakers, and you are going to get at least a piece of Lucas Prime, but it feels like really all of it, because thus far there's no reason to believe that he's not going to sign another extension after the 2028 season, and assuming things go, assuming things go well, and he's happy with what he sees.

Starting point is 00:07:19 And Luca has to be at least somewhat happy with what he's seen so far, because Marcus Smart to a lesser, but I think still tangible degree, DeAndre Aiton, those were guys he helped recruit. Those were guys that Luca wanted Rob Polinka to bring on board. The Mark Williams deal was rescinded, but by all accounts, that was done, at least initially, to signal to, Luca, we will do the things that you want. He has to be happy with what he's seen so far.

Starting point is 00:07:48 And then in the meantime, Rob Polinka now has the ability to map out a future for this organization over the next three years, over the next five years. He has an ability to plan what he wants to do, how he wants to execute building a roster, because he knows what the centerpiece is going to be. It's Luca Donchich. He knows the type of player Luca is. He can go about with obviously collaboration with Luca. He can go about figuring out the best version of a roster to put around Luca,

Starting point is 00:08:23 knowing that Luca is not wavering in any way with that commitment. I remember I asked Rob Polinka during the introductory press conference for Luca after the trade, what does it mean just to have, at least theoretically, then, a generational superstar in his prime just as somebody looking to build a roster. And Rob's answer in so many words was, it means everything. And right now the Lakers are in the It Means Everything stage with Luca Donchage, with their organization,

Starting point is 00:08:58 moving forward. And it's just an exciting day for the Lakers. Just as much as Brian and I over the years have made fun of them in some ways or even been critical of the idea of they don't know what to do, do with themselves if they don't have a superstar on hand at all times. The reality is every single organization wants to have superstars. And they have one now in Luca. And when this guy is right and healthy and completely dialed in,

Starting point is 00:09:29 he is on the short list of guys you can talk about as best player in the league, top five player, MVP candidates. And the Lakers have that guy now, and they should be really, really excited. We're going to be back on Monday with a full show getting into all things, Luca Donchich, the extension, but wanted to give you guys some quick reaction thoughts right now. Again, listen to Lockdown Lakers everywhere you get podcasts on audio, watch the show on YouTube. We appreciate everybody who is here, and we will see everyone on Monday.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - BONUS EPISODE! Luka Dončić Signs Three Year, $165 Million Contract Extension With the Lakers

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