Luka Doncic ‘Loves’ Playing With LeBron James On Lakers

Luka Doncic “loves” playing with NBA legend LeBron James on the Los Angeles Lakers. 

Doncic’s manager, Lara Beth Seager, provided that statement to NBA reporter Ramona Shelburne of ESPN. 

“Luka loves playing with LeBron and has learned so much from him,” Seager said. “He has nothing but the utmost respect for LeBron and considers it an honor to be his teammate.”

Doncic and James appeared in 23 games together last season. The Lakers went 15-8. 

Los Angeles was the third seed in the 2025 Western Conference playoffs. Despite having Doncic, James and home-court advantage, the Lakers lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round in five games. 

A five-time All-Star, Doncic can sign an extension with the Lakers on August 2 for as much as four years and $229 million. The former Dallas Mavericks superstar can also agree to a two-year extension to get him to 10 years of service in the summer of 2028, when he could sign a five-year max contract at 35% of the salary cap to maximize his earnings.

Meanwhile, James’ future with the Lakers is the biggest unknown of this offseason. The leading scorer of all time opted in to his 2025-26 player option worth $52.6 million, but since Los Angeles is building for the future with Doncic as its new franchise player, some believe James could request a trade. 

“He feels clearly that the Lakers are more in a futuristic mindset,” NBA insider Shams Charania said on Sirius XM NBA Radio. “Where does that go? If one side feels like, listen, I wanna compete for a championship, the other side is just trying to compete for the future, but then that other side is like, well, we are trying to win a championship, like, where does that meet in the roads that we see?

“And I think that situation will play out over the next two months. I really think there will be some hard conversations eventually that will need to happen there.”

James has a no-trade clause in his contract. He has been with the Lakers since 2018.