Life After LeBron: Luka Dončić and the New-Era Lakers

EL SEGUNDO — For the first time in eight years, the Los Angeles Lakers opened training camp this week without LeBron James in the building. No farewell tour, no awkward final season — just a quiet exit to Philadelphia and a franchise that woke up belonging entirely to Luka Dončić.

That’s not a small thing. James didn’t just play for the Lakers; for most of the last decade he was the Lakers’ gravitational center, the player every possession orbited. Now the orbit has a new sun. Dončić, 27, is coming off the best statistical season of his career — a second scoring title at 33.5 points per game, leading the league in three-point attempts — and a summer spent getting right after the Grade 2 left hamstring strain that ended his 2025-26 campaign five games early and kept him out of the playoffs entirely.

The good news, and it’s the only news that matters in October: he’s healthy. Dončić spent the summer in Slovenia, hosted a Lakers minicamp there, and reported to camp with no restrictions. “I feel great,” he told reporters this week. Head coach JJ Redick confirmed the plan for the preseason, which opens Oct. 8 in Sacramento against the Kings: “He’ll play.” But don’t expect a minutes load. Redick was explicit that October is about rhythm, not results — “getting into a rhythm, finding some lineup balance, getting into shape, and feeling good about yourself and the guys you’re playing with versus playing him 36 minutes and trying to win a game against another team’s G League team in the fourth quarter.”

The $185 million co-star

If Dončić is the sun, Austin Reaves is the planet with its own gravity now. The undrafted guard turned All-Star set career highs across the board in 2025-26 and was rewarded with a four-year contract in the neighborhood of $185 million. With Rui Hachimura, Marcus Smart and Luke Kennard all gone, Reaves inherits the clear No. 2 role — more shot creation, more pick-and-roll reps, more nights where the offense runs through him when Dončić sits.

Dončić and Reaves were the highest-scoring duo in the league last regular season, and the chemistry is genuine. “Austin and me at the head of the snake,” Dončić said this week, in the kind of phrasing that suggests he’s thought about the geometry of it. “I think we got a lot of underrated players that can improve a lot offensively and defensively. So, I’m very excited for both.”

The rest of the starting five is where the roster reconstruction shows. General manager Rob Pelinka traded Deandre Ayton to Washington for Jaden Hardy and draft compensation, clearing a frontcourt logjam and the cap room used to add Quentin Grimes, Sandro Mamukelashvili and Walker Kessler. The projected starters: Dončić, Reaves, Jarred Vanderbilt, Jake LaRavia and Kessler at center.

The Kessler question

Walker Kessler might be the single biggest variable on the roster. The Lakers paid dearly for him — two unprotected first-round picks and two protected firsts to Utah, plus at least $30 million per season on the contract — and then watched him play five games last year before a torn labrum ended his season and required shoulder surgery. Two seasons ago he was an 11-point, 12-rebound, 2.4-block rim protector. If that player shows up, the Dončić-Kessler pick-and-roll is a nightly lob highlight. If the shoulder isn’t right, the Lakers’ center rotation gets thin in a hurry.

Dončić told reporters this week he’s already dreaming about it: “You just throw it up there, he’s there. That helps us a lot.” Camp will tell the truth — Kessler’s health and the chemistry of nine new faces learning Redick’s system are the two variables between Los Angeles and the top of the West.

The European connection

One of camp’s more interesting subplots is how European the Lakers have become. Alongside Dončić, the roster now features Sandro Mamukelashvili — described in some circles as a Toni Kukoč disciple — giving Redick two high-IQ playmakers who see the floor a beat early. After two intense days of camp, both broke down the team’s progress for Eurohoops, and Dončić told Eurohoops on Tuesday: “Some things you’re going to figure out quicker. Some you’re going to figure out later. I feel like we had a great first practice.”

The bench has its own intrigue. Collin Sexton arrives talking about a defensive reinvention (see our film breakdown of his plan), Grimes brings two-way steadiness, and Bronny James enters his third season fighting for real rotation minutes rather than ceremonial ones. Dalton Knecht’s shooting and Adou Thiero’s athleticism give Redick options on the wing.

What last spring proved

Here’s the part Lakers fans should hold onto: this team already showed it can win without its best player. When Dončić’s hamstring ended his season, Los Angeles didn’t fold — the Lakers upset the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs anyway. That resilience is the foundation Redick is building on, and it’s why the preseason approach is so deliberately low-stakes. The regular season is the exam; October is the study hall.

The road ahead

Six preseason games, then the real thing Oct. 21 — at home against Golden State, a Warriors team coming off its own chaotic preseason opener in Hawaii (see our weekend roundup). The West is a minefield: the defending champion Knicks loom in June conversations, but out West it’s Oklahoma City, Denver, Minnesota and a reloaded field.

For Dončić, the mission is simple and enormous: prove that a franchise can hand its keys to a 27-year-old genius and win at the highest level. No more sharing the marquee. No more waiting. The Luka era in Los Angeles starts now — hamstring willing, and all signs say it is.

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