The Dallas Mavericks are now under a lot of pressure from their fans to win an NBA championship soon after trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, but it seems the Lakers now have a lot of pressure on them too. According to Brian Windhorst on ESPN’s First Take, the Lakers need to get Doncic to re-sign by August 2nd. 

“The pressure is now on the [Lakers] between now and August 2nd to get Luka [Doncic] to sign that extension,” Windhorst stated. “That’s where the pressure is. Because Luka doesn’t have his incentive to sign in L.A.” 

It does seem like Doncic doesn’t really care about playing in Los Angeles, and hasn’t put a lot effort in while playing. So far, he’s only averaging 14.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game. However, with the Mavs, he was averaging 28.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 7.8 assists per game. 

Windhorst doubled down on this, pointing out Doncic has never stated he wanted to be a Laker. “He never said ‘I want to be a Laker’. There’s dozens of players who’ve made it crystal clear they wanna be Lakers, Luka never said that. This hit him out of the blue, it cost him $100 million dollars.”

If the Lakers don’t re-sign Doncic, the trade will probably hurt them more than the Mavs, because they will have lost two superstars. This also gives Doncic a chance to come back to Dallas, but with the current front office and ownership, it’s doubtful.

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