Revealing the inside story of Doncic s return to the peak: The Lakers team escorts it, making it clearer to win the championship next season

Doncic achieved his peak performance in the 2025 Men's Basketball European Championship, and was the scoring king, efficiency value king and steal king of the European Championship, ranking second in assists. He also led the Slovenian men's basketball team to the quarterfinals without being favored. In the European Championship, Doncic performed in an offense and defense, changing his image of weak defense in the past. Behind Doncic's return to the top is the Lakers team providing full support. Not only did the boss Jenny Bass and general manager Pelinka come to Europe to cheer for Doncic. The Lambis and his wife of Lakers' management, Leroy Sims, the medical director of the Lakers and assistant coach Greg Saint-jean also went to Europe to escort Doncic's European Championships.

Doncic lived up to expectations and returned to the top in the European Championships. At the same time, he completed the game healthily, which also made the Lakers team very satisfied and was full of confidence in the Lakers achieving good results in the NBA in the new season. At the same time, Doncic also deeply felt the Lakers' attention and care for him, and his relationship with the Lakers has become closer.

Doncic has always been very eager to fight for the Slovenian men's basketball team, and the Lakers have not set any obstacles for him. Some NBA teams will dissuade the stars from playing international games, especially the stars have just given big contracts. The Lakers renewed their contract with Doncic for three years this summer for $165 million, and they fully support Doncic in the European Championships.

"Luca (Doncic) is sincerely proud and grateful for his dream of playing for the country. I think that in our cooperation with the players, the Lakers want to pay attention to the players' enthusiasm and where they come from, and devote themselves to supporting them. So, around Luca, we naturally made a cooperative decision, and we are willing to support him."

The Lakers sent a strong team to support Doncic's European Championships, and Jenny Bass, Pelinka, Lambis, and Linda (Lambis's wife) came to the scene to encourage him. The Lakers' medical director Leroy Sims went to Europe to check Doncic's physical condition. Lakers assistant coach Greg Saint-jean is temporarily the assistant coach of Slovenia. When Doncic was preparing for the European Championship, he became one of them and stayed in Europe for 40 days with Slovenia. It is worth mentioning that when Doncic's team needed equipment, the Lakers even sent their equipment manager as a resource for the Slovenian team.

To put it bluntly, the Lakers provide support to what they can with all their ability.

Doncic experienced a blow to the Mavericks trade last season, but his weight gain did affect his condition. In the summer of 2025, Doncic successfully lost 12 kilograms of weight after hard training, and he hopes to test his level in the European Championship. The Lakers are certainly happy to see it. Before and after each European Championship, Pelinka, Leroy Sims, Doncic's business manager Lara Bess-Segel, and Doncic's physiotherapist Barrio will communicate in the chat group. Pelinka was able to learn about Doncic's physical condition and his emotions at the time as soon as possible.

Doncic finally delivered a beautiful answer in the European Championship. He was selected into the All-A-League and averaged 34.7 points per game, the highest average score in a single European Championship since Greek star Nicos Gallis averaged 35.6 points per game in 1989. Doncic scored a total of 243 points in the European Championship, exceeding his playing time (233 minutes).

It is worth mentioning that Slovenia lost 91-99 to the German men's basketball team that finally won the championship. Doncic actually led Slovenia by 26 minutes in a 40-minute game. Before the match against Slovenia, Germany was only 18 minutes behind in six games.

Doncic not only played terrifying offensive efficiency in the European Championship, but his defense also became a highlight. According to sources, during the European Championship, Lakers assistant coach St. Jean showed Slovenia coach Alexander Sekulic a video clip of Doncic's defense. Saint-Jean believes that in addition to his outstanding offensive performance, Doncic is also the best defensive player in the team. In this clip, every time you take the ball, Doncic's correct position, good communication with his teammates, and overall investment.

Pellinka also saw this and regarded it as an improvement in Doncic's leadership.

"From a leadership perspective, I support players playing basketball during the offseason," Pelinka said. "I think that in a sense, the offseason and the current basketball perspective, especially in the United States, focus on personal training. And I think this team atmosphere may be overlooked." Before the European Championship, Pelinka also had concerns that Doncic had a right knee bruised in a warm-up match against Latvia, which led to a few days of rest. However, Doncic returned successfully to participate in the remaining warm-up matches and performed perfectly in the European Championship.

Doncic said that this experience made him feel more closely connected with the Lakers. "The support of the Lakers' management and Lakers' country is amazing," Doncic said. "Rob (Pellinka), Jenny (Bass), Cote (Lampies), Linda and Sims came to Poland. Lakers fans watched the European Championship and cheered for Slovenia, which means a lot to me."

Doncic's performance also reminded the Lakers that there is no time to wait until the end of the LeBron era before creating the Luca era. The Lakers are about to compete for the championship now. “Luca’s performance at the European Basketball Championship made the entire basketball community understand that, if not the top, he is a member of the list of candidates for the ‘best players on the planet’,” Pelinka said. “In terms of team building, we have discussed the importance of having the right to choose, and when I use this word, it does not refer to the future. I think the right to choose also exists in the present.. Luca is undoubtedly the best player on Earth, and LeBron James is still one of the greatest players in our game even at this age, which allows us to continue to think carefully about the value of this choice. ”

The Lakers now have 14 players with regular contracts, including Hachimura ($18.3 million), Gabe Vincent ($11.5 million) and Maxi Kleber ($11 million) all have only one year left, and their upcoming expiration contracts have a certain trading value, which can be added to the first round of 2031 or 2032 in exchange for more powerful players. In addition, after Doncic's three years of contract renewal, the Lakers are willing to trade other players with a contract age of more than 2026. "If there is a wise way to realize our championship dream next season, we will realize it," Pelinka said. "We think it is an important moment for our team to have these two players next season (Doncic and James) and we will continue to do our best to help the team win the 18th championship. "

" He stresses every day that his goal is to win the championship," said a source close to Doncic. "He believes that management will do its duty and everything they are building. "For the Lakers, James may retire after playing for another season or two. He must step up his championship while James still has an All-Star player.