{"id":21869,"date":"2025-08-04T21:59:51","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T01:59:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/sin-categoria\/lebron-james-congratulates-luka-doncic-on-his-new-contract-with-the-lakers\/"},"modified":"2025-08-04T21:59:51","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T01:59:51","slug":"lebron-james-congratulates-luka-doncic-on-his-new-contract-with-the-lakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/nba\/lebron-james-congratulates-luka-doncic-on-his-new-contract-with-the-lakers\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron James congratulates Luka Doncic on his new contract with the Lakers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LeBron James congratulates Luka Don\u010di\u0107 after contract extension with the Lakers<\/h2>\n\n\nAmidst the excitement surrounding Luka Don\u010di\u0107’s recent contract extension with the Los Angeles Lakers, amounting to $165 million over three years, the player’s phone lit up with a special call. LeBron James, the emblematic figure of the franchise for the last seven seasons, was the first to congratulate Don\u010di\u0107.\n\nAccording to sources, James communicated with Don\u010di\u0107 via video call to express his congratulations. This gesture occurred immediately after the contract was signed and before Don\u010di\u0107 participated in a press conference at the Lakers’ training facility on Saturday.\n\nAlthough James was not present at the press conference or on the team’s trip to Las Vegas to attend the Backstreet Boys concert, the phone call reinforced the support James has shown to Don\u010di\u0107 since the Lakers surprised the basketball world by acquiring the 26-year-old superstar in February.\n\n\n

Luka has been my favorite NBA player for a while.<\/p>LeBron James<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\nThe connection between James and Don\u010di\u0107 has strengthened since they both shared the court during the regular season, where the Lakers achieved a 16-7 record in the games they played together.\n\nFaced with Don\u010di\u0107’s imminent decision on his contract after the Lakers’ first-round defeat against the Minnesota Timberwolves, James expressed his wish for the player to remain on the team, although he respected his personal decision.\n\n\n

I hope, obviously, [that he stays long-term]. Lakers fans love him here. Los Angeles has embraced him. We want him as a teammate, as a brother. But ultimately, he has to make a decision for himself. I’m not going to be around here much longer.<\/p>LeBron James<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\nWhile James’ feelings towards Don\u010di\u0107 have been consistent, with a deep mutual respect between both players, James’ perspectives on the future of the Lakers are not so clear.\n\nJames opted into the final year of his contract for $52.6 million in June, which will allow him to play his 23rd season in the league with the Lakers in the 2025-26 season.\n\nHowever, the statement from his agent, Rich Paul, CEO of Klutch Sports, opened the door to speculation about the future of the four-time champion.\n\n\n

LeBron wants to compete for a championship. He knows the Lakers are building for the future. He understands that, but he values a realistic opportunity to win it all. We are very grateful for the partnership we have had for eight years with Jeanie [Buss] and Rob [Pelinka] and consider the Lakers a fundamental part of his career.<\/p>Rich Paul<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\nWhen asked about Paul’s statement and James’ future, Rob Pelinka, president of basketball operations and general manager of the Lakers, stated that the team and James’ environment maintain a positive relationship.\n\n\n

All the interactions we’ve had with LeBron and his team, Rich in particular, have been positive and supportive. The dialogue with [Paul] has been open and constant.<\/p>Rob Pelinka<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\nAs for what the future holds for James beyond next season, Pelinka indicated that the team will respect the 40-year-old player’s decision.\n\n\n

I think the most important thing we have to do is respect his decision and that of his family regarding how long he is going to play. We want to respect his ability to set his own schedule. I think that’s really important. But if he had the opportunity to retire as a Laker, that would be great.<\/p>Rob Pelinka<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\nMarc Stein, NBA reporter, was the first to report on James’ efforts to contact Don\u010di\u0107 and congratulate him.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LeBron James congratulates Luka Don\u010di\u0107 after contract extension with the Lakers Amidst the excitement surrounding Luka Don\u010di\u0107’s recent contract extension with the Los Angeles Lakers, amounting to $165 million over three years, the player’s phone lit up with a special call. LeBron James, the emblematic figure of the franchise for the last seven seasons, was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[65,120,121,592],"class_list":{"0":"post-21869","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-contract","9":"tag-lakers","10":"tag-lebron-james","11":"tag-luka-doncic"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}