Los Angeles Lakers’ Luka Dončić ‘Stresses Every Single Day That His Goal Is To Win A Championship’
NBA superstar Luka Dončić of the Los Angeles Lakers “stresses every single day that his goal is to win a championship,” according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
“He stresses every single day that his goal is to win a championship,” a source close to Dončić told ESPN. “He trusts the front office to do their part, and he trusts what they’re building.”
Dončić has yet to win a championship in the NBA. He guided the Dallas Mavericks to the 2024 NBA Finals, but the Boston Celtics won the series in five games.
The Mavericks shockingly traded Dončić to the Lakers last season. A five-time All-Star, Dončić signed a three-year extension with Los Angeles this offseason.
Dončić looked like arguably the best basketball player in the world during EuroBasket. He averaged 34.7 points for Slovenia.
One of the top players in the NBA, Dončić appeared in 28 games with the Lakers last season after the Mavericks traded him in February. The talented point-forward averaged 28.2 points, 8.1 rebounds, 7.5 assists, 1.6 steals and 0.4 blocks with the purple and gold.
Dončić has lost 30 pounds since last summer, a league source told DallasHoopsJournal. The five-time All-Star was listed at 230 pounds with the Mavericks and Lakers last season. He’s at 200 pounds right now.
A future Hall of Famer, Dončić enters next season third in NBA history in points per game. He has career averages of 28.2 points with the Mavericks and Lakers.
The Lakers signed Deandre Ayton, Marcus Smart and Jake LaRavia this offseason. Head coach JJ Redick is expected to start Dončić, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, LeBron James and Ayton in 2025-26.
“Luka’s play in EuroBasket made it clear to the entire basketball world that he’s on that incredibly short list of ‘best player on the planet’ candidates, if not at the top,” Lakers president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka said.
“In terms of team building, we’ve talked about the importance of having optionality and when I use that word, it’s not to say in the future. I think optionality is also in the now. Having both Luka as arguably the best player on the planet and LeBron James, who is still in the mix of being one of the great players in our game, even at his age, continues to allow us to think carefully about the value of that optionality.”
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