This season marks the true start of the Luka Doncic era for the Los Angeles Lakers. While he arrived in that humongous trade with the Dallas Mavericks back in February 2025, LeBron James was still around, and James didn't leave until this summer.
James' departure gave the Lakers the salary-cap flexibility to assemble a relatively well-balanced and deep roster around Doncic. While most don't consider it a championship-level roster, both Doncic and coach JJ Redick have made it clear that they intend to chase the NBA championship in earnest starting this season.
Doncic is now the face of a Lakers franchise that has boasted some of the greatest and most impactful players in basketball history. When asked if it feels different from being the face of the Mavs, he called it "an honor."
“Obviously it’s the Lakers, it’s one of the biggest organizations in the world, if not the biggest. It’s a very, it’s a lot of honor just to be the face of this franchise. I hope I can stay here long. It doesn’t feel different, but like I said, it’s very much an honor and I’m just enjoying this moment.”
In Wednesday's edition of the Los Angeles Times, Doncic took out an ad declaring that night's regular-season opener the start of a run to the championship and implored fans to give their full support. He has also said publicly multiple times that his main goal at this point in his career is to win the NBA title.
He has never won it all in the NBA, although he did reach the championship series in 2024 as a member of the Mavericks, only to lose in five games there to the Boston Celtics. For the second summer in a row, he got into fantastic shape, and he appears poised to put forth another MVP-caliber season, regardless of how successful the Lakers will be as a team.
This article originally appeared on Lakers Wire: Luka Doncic called being the face of the Lakers 'an honor'