Entering the 2024-25 NBA season that begins in less than two months, the Dallas Mavericks are in the best position they’ve ever been in the Luka Doncic era.

Dallas is coming off an impressive run to the NBA Finals that was headlined by the dominance and chemistry of Doncic and Kyrie Irving, and they found a way to get even better this summer. The Mavs started the offseason by trading Tim Hardaway Jr. and multiple second-round picks for Quentin Grimes, but their biggest move came a couple of days later.

Dallas acquired Klay Thompson through a sign-and-trade, and adding one of the best shooters of all time will make things so much easier for Doncic and Irving. Although everything seems to be going in the right direction for Doncic and the Mavs right now, the Los Angeles Lakers have their eyes set on a move that would sabotage Dallas’ master plan for the future of the franchise.

According to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, the Lakers have their “sights set for Luka (Doncic). We’ll see if that works out…That may not work out, but the Lakers by not trading their future picks clearly are still thinking long-term at this point. They’re not going all in like you might expect many teams to do with (LeBron) James.”

Dallas clearly loves having Doncic around as he has morphed into one of the best players in the NBA in front of the team’s eyes, and according to O’Connor, the Lakers are a team to keep an eye on in the future as they could try to poach Doncic away from the Mavs.

Any team in the NBA would love to have Doncic on their roster due to his dominance, youth, and potential, but the Mavs don’t seem to have any plans of letting him go anywhere. Doncic is eligible for the biggest contract extension in NBA history, and the Mavs would be wild to not sign him to that.

There are no indications that Doncic wants out of Dallas outside of the rumbles that he could want out if the Mavs didn’t improve over a year ago, and after coming off an NBA Finals appearance, those doubts have been put to rest.

Nico Harrison has done a great job of building this roster around Doncic, and although the Lakers seem to want Doncic, a lot of things would have to go right for Los Angeles and wrong for Dallas for this to even be a possibility.

The Lakers aren’t the same free agency mecca that they once were and Doncic seems happy in Dallas. Keeping him in a Mavs jersey for as long as possible should be a priority for the front office and it seems unlikely at this point that he’d leave Dallas for Los Angeles.

Losing Doncic to the Lakers would be heartbreaking for Mavs fans considering that the team’s plan ever since he was drafted was to build around him, but Lakers fans need to pump the brakes on this dream scenario for them as Doncic doesn’t look to be going anywhere right now.

The Mavs are making all of the right moves to surround Doncic with an elite supporting cast to give him a great shot at winning the title, and this year, they will have the best odds of doing that with him than they ever have before.