LOS ANGELES — If there was any doubt that the Lakers are now Luka Doncic’s team for the foreseeable future, an offseason quest for new and old players alike sets the stage for the season ahead.
Doncic, the NBA’s scoring champion from a year ago, is hosting the Lakers roster in his native Slovenia for a four-day trip in August, a team source familiar with the situation confirmed to the Southern California News Group on Tuesday morning. Both fully guaranteed and two-way players have been invited as the Lakers get a head start on team building and chemistry on and off the court for the season ahead. For the time being, the Lakers have 11 new players, including two-way contracts, following the offseason retool.
ESPN first reported news of the trip, adding that the four days will include workouts, tourism of the city of Ljubljana, and golfing, a sport that Lakers guard Austin Reaves has played throughout his life and Doncic has picked up over the past year alongside other Lakers. LeBron James, who signed with the Philadelphia 76ers on a two-year deal last week after announcing he would depart the Lakers in June, is an avid golfer alongside his son, Lakers guard Bronny James.
“I’ll be watching in the (golf) cart,” new Lakers guard Quentin Grimes joked to ESPN Los Angeles about golf in an introductory interview earlier this month, adding that spending time on the links wasn’t his forte, but that he wouldn’t mind being a caddy for his teammates.
During the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas earlier this month, a handful of Lakers players practiced together in the team’s hotel ballroom, which featured a full-length NBA court.
Returning players Reaves, Bronny James, Jarred Vanderbilt and Jake LaRavia, as well as new signees Grimes, Colin Sexton, Sandro Mamukelashvili and Ziaire Williams, appeared in Las Vegas during the team’s summer league contests, most sitting courtside for one or two games. Doncic was not in Las Vegas as he spent time in Slovenia with his family while rehabbing his left hamstring during the offseason
“I think playing with superstars like Austin and Luka Doncic, it’s just going to help me get better and be a better player,” Mamukelashvili told reporters in Las Vegas last month.
Now, Doncic and his new teammates will get a head start before the preseason formally begins as they will unite overseas in their attempt to contend against the Western Conference’s best.