Luka Doncic is now the undisputed face of the Los Angeles Lakers, but even he was kept in the dark about the latest stunning development with the franchise.
The superstar guard Doncic was not consulted about the sale of the Lakers, Dave McMenamin of ESPN reported on Thursday. McMenamin adds though that Doncic does plan to have a video call with incoming new owners Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner from his native Slovenia next week.
Interestingly enough, The Athletic reported in May that Doncic had been in “regular contact” with outgoing Lakers owner Mark Walter and was even said to be “impressed” by Walter’s level of communication with him. But now it sounds like the communication to Doncic about Walter’s decision to sell the team was virtually non-existent.
The shocking news broke on Wednesday morning that the Lakers had been sold in principle for a sum of $12.5 billion to Iger and Kushner. Doncic himself later issued a public statement reacting to the sale.
The 27-year-old NBA scoring champion Doncic will be entering his second full season with the Lakers next year. But he is no stranger to ownership turmoil and will now have played for five different owners (Mark Cuban and Patrick Dumont/Miriam Adelson with the Dallas Mavericks followed by the Buss family, Walter, and now Iger/Kushner with the Lakers) over just the course of the last couple of years.
While the (newest) change up top for the Lakers may be above Doncic’s pay grade, he is certainly doing well right now in controlling what he can control. In fact, we recently learned that Doncic was plotting a major upcoming gesture for his Lakers teammates this offseason.
