AS THE SHOT CLOCK dwindled below a second, Luka Doncic, in a move audacious even for him, executed a step-back jumper over the lengthy 6-foot-11 wingspan of Minnesota Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels. The ball arced high towards the Crypto.com Arena ceiling before dropping softly through the net, beating the buzzer and giving the Lakers a one-point lead with 6:30 left in the fourth quarter of Game 5 on Wednesday night.
Chants of `Lu-ka! Lu-ka!` echoed through the arena. Doncic smirked as he retreated down the court, displaying his trademark blend of determination and skill, despite his body protesting after a back tweak from a first-half collision with Wolves guard Donte DiVincenzo.
In that moment, Doncic embodied the fearless scorer he`s known to be. The Los Angeles Lakers appeared to be the team poised to make a statement, and Laker Nation briefly recaptured the boundless optimism they felt back in early February upon hearing about one of the most surprising trades in recent league history.
Ultimately, however, this proved to be the Lakers` final moment of brilliance in the 2024-25 season.
It was the last shot Doncic made, and the last time L.A. held the lead. Minnesota finished the game on a 16-8 run, while the Lakers missed nine of their last 12 attempts (with Doncic missing his final two shots).
The rapid collapse of momentum mirrored the trajectory of both the Lakers` season and Doncic`s personal journey. No one could understand the feeling of such a dramatic shift better than him.
The changes he experienced after being traded from the Dallas Mavericks to the Lakers three months prior were profound and pervasive.
The 26-year-old, a first-team All-NBA selection for the past five seasons, transitioned from being a franchise cornerstone and presumed future one-team Hall of Famer to joining a team built around LeBron James, a franchise already steeped in legendary history.
His season was defined by transformation, conflicting storylines, and a form of basketball rebirth.
Not everything was unfamiliar. Doncic maintained his Dallas pregame ritual in Los Angeles. After his spot-shooting session around the 3-point line, he attempts three half-court shots. If he makes one, several Lakers assistant coaches rebounding for him must do pushups. If he misses all three, Doncic owes the coaches body-weight squats or pushups, which he performs at center court.
This small ritual is an example of Doncic seeking comfort and routine in a season that offered little of either. Sources told ESPN that it was also a response to whispers following the trade, reflecting a commitment to adding extra conditioning after joining the Lakers with a strained left calf that sidelined him for five and a half weeks.
His game-day routine, sources noted, begins at 9 a.m. with bodywork, shooting, weightlifting, and a cold tub plunge. According to one source, maintaining his fun pregame routine signaled Doncic`s recognition that the faster he returned to peak performance with his new squad, the sooner the Lakers could realize their full potential.
The envisioned potential ultimately exceeded their actual performance. Wednesday night concluded a disappointing five-game, first-round loss to a Minnesota team that was physically larger, deeper, and younger. In virtually every aspect, the Lakers were outplayed.
Their season, in many ways, became a race against the clock: Doncic trying to accelerate his recovery and integration into the Lakers` system; first-year coach JJ Redick attempting to fast-track his coaching development; president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka working to reshape the roster around Doncic; and James somehow still delivering championship-caliber play for his team despite turning 40.
Time ran out for chemistry to fully develop. Time ran out to acquire a center who could both complement Doncic and protect the rim. Time is running out for James.
“I don`t know,” James stated after Game 5 when questioned about how much longer he intends to play. “I don`t have that answer.”
The Lakers entered the series favored to advance but now head into the offseason far sooner than anticipated, facing numerous questions and significant uncertainty.
THE LAKERS` POSTSEASON slogan, `Unleash Joy,` was meant to evoke the spirit of Doncic`s demeanor during those half-court shooting contests. The team even promoted it via email, declaring the motto for their `2025 playoff run.`
That playoff run lasted just 12 days. The Lakers dropped Game 1, the first playoff opener they`d hosted in L.A. since James joined in 2018, by 22 points. They bounced back with a Game 2 victory before losing the next two straight in Minneapolis, being outscored by a combined 20 points over the final five minutes of those contests.
L.A.`s most obvious weakness lay in their frontcourt.
Just three days after trading Anthony Davis to Dallas for Doncic, the Lakers arranged a deal with the Charlotte Hornets for 7-footer Mark Williams. Williams, a promising yet injury-prone young center, was intended to give Doncic a lob threat around the basket beyond Jaxson Hayes. Sources indicated that Williams was Doncic`s preferred target among potential trade options, and he communicated this to the team, having been effective with Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford in Dallas.
The agreement for the deal was reached the night before the trade deadline, a last-minute move by the Lakers` front office after successfully negotiating the Doncic trade and acquiring Dorian Finney-Smith from the Brooklyn Nets in late December.
However, Williams never suited up for L.A. He failed the team`s physical examination, and a source with knowledge of the situation told ESPN that the Lakers “just couldn`t live with what they saw.”
The trade was reversed, a rare occurrence in the NBA, sending Williams back to Charlotte and rookie Dalton Knecht, Cam Reddish, and a future first-round pick back to L.A.
With the deadline passed, Pelinka was unable to construct another trade using the same assets. Consequently, L.A. signed 7-footer Alex Len off the waiver wire. Sources said that Len was already in an Indianapolis hotel prepared to sign with the Pacers after being released by the Sacramento Kings but was swayed by the prospect of playing with James, Doncic, and the Lakers, changing his plans.
Len joined the team but didn`t earn a spot in Redick`s rotation, playing in only 10 of 31 games after signing with L.A. Meanwhile, Williams played 21 games for Charlotte down the stretch, averaging 14.9 points on 62.5% shooting.
Redick played Hayes for the first four minutes of Game 4 before keeping him on the bench for the remainder of the series.
Minnesota`s depth was already a strength – they had added two rotation players for the price of one by trading Karl-Anthony Towns to New York before the season for Julius Randle and DiVincenzo, reinforcing a squad that reached the conference finals the previous year. This advantage became even more pronounced as the series wore on and Redick further tightened his rotation.
In Game 4, Redick inserted Finney-Smith into the starting lineup in place of Hayes and played that group of five players for the entire second half – a strategy widely criticized, as substitution data tracked since 1997 showed it had never occurred in a playoff game before, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. It was a high-stakes gamble in a crucial moment, and Redick lost.
Yet, the first-year coach doubled down on his approach before Game 5, reacting defensively to a question asking if he had consulted his assistant coaches before playing Doncic, who was recovering from a stomach virus that severely limited him in Game 3, and James, who was dealing with hip and groin issues entering the postseason, for 24 consecutive minutes.
“Are you suggesting that because I`m inexperienced, that was an inexperienced decision I made?” Redick retorted. “Do you honestly think I don`t discuss substitutions with my assistants during every single timeout?”
“That`s a strange assumption,” he concluded before exiting the press conference.
After the game, with emotions still raw, Redick acknowledged that he has room to improve as a coach.
“I understand I can perform better,” he stated. “I know I will get better. I don`t necessarily feel satisfaction from how the year unfolded. That`s not to diminish my pride in what the team achieved and how we adapted on the fly to secure home-court advantage in the first round, but there are always areas for improvement, and I can improve significantly.”
Following Game 1, Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels commented on taking advantage of the Lakers` lack of size.
“I observed that at certain times when they didn`t have a rim protector on the floor, specifically when Jaxson Hayes wasn`t playing,” he explained. “If he`s off the court, I`m essentially the tallest player out there. So, I didn`t believe anyone could effectively challenge me at the rim.”
McDaniels finished with a team-high 25 points on 11-for-13 shooting in that game.
In Game 5, the Lakers were outrebounded 54-37 overall and 18-8 on the offensive glass.
“We couldn`t secure rebounds,” Lakers forward Rui Hachimura lamented. “We need someone who can rebound.”
Rudy Gobert, with his 7-1 frame, grabbed nine offensive boards and 24 total rebounds, while scoring 27 points on 12-for-15 shooting.
“Gobert resembled Shaq,” a team source commented to ESPN after the game.
Seated at the podium after the Lakers` season-ending loss, James was asked if playing without a true center for the final three months of the season had impacted him or the series outcome.
“No comment,” James replied with a smirk. “I would never say that. Because my teammate AD said it, what he needed, and he was gone the very next week.”
THE SEASON HAD ITS BRIGHT SPOTS that demonstrated a compelling concept, such as an eight-game winning streak in late February against several strong opponents, including Denver, Minnesota, New York, and two victories against the Clippers.
However, there were also puzzling losses, including one in Brooklyn and two against the Chicago Bulls within six days. The first was an inexplicable 31-point blowout defeat. The second, which ended with a Josh Giddey buzzer-beater from 47 feet, foreshadowed some of the issues that ultimately plagued this season.
After holding a 16-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, the Lakers faded. Up by five with 12 seconds remaining, Bulls wing Patrick Williams hit an open 3-pointer, cutting the lead to 115-113.
On the subsequent inbounds play, James threw a poor pass that was intercepted by Giddey, who then passed to an open Coby White for a 26-foot 3-pointer that gave the Bulls the lead.
After a late-season road win against the Oklahoma City Thunder, James acknowledged that the team was still a work in progress.
“We`re focused on building strong habits,” James stated. “It`s all about habits. We`re just trying to establish our habits now, heading into the final stretch of the season.”
Habits are solidified through repetition and refined through trial and error.
“It felt like speed dating,” one team source shared with ESPN. “Even if things are going well, your usual lines won`t work on every partner. There`s just limited time to put in the effort.”
Despite the early exit, the Lakers have reasons for optimism. In James` first season with the Lakers, they didn`t make the playoffs. The following season, after acquiring Anthony Davis, they won the championship. In Luka Doncic`s first season playing alongside Kyrie Irving, the Mavericks missed the playoffs. After making significant changes to their supporting cast midway through the next season, they reached the Finals.
A source close to Doncic informed ESPN that the Slovenian star defeated Minnesota last season with a Dallas Mavericks team “specifically built around him.” In Los Angeles, the source noted, “Luka inherited these players, and these players inherited Luka.”
The Lakers were undertaking the challenge of restructuring their offensive and defensive schemes – which were already new following JJ Redick`s hiring to replace Darvin Ham – to highlight Doncic`s strengths while attempting to mitigate his weaknesses.
Unlike Mavericks president of basketball operations and general manager Nico Harrison, who reportedly felt Doncic`s flaws outweighed his brilliance, the Lakers seem eager to tackle the task of unleashing the ultimate version of their star guard.
“It is incredibly exciting to envision him as the cornerstone of our franchise for the next decade of Laker basketball and the prospect of building a team centered around him,” Pelinka commented Thursday during an end-of-season press conference with reporters.
FOLLOWING THE PREMATURE playoff elimination, Doncic can finally take a break. A source close to him described this season as “the most unexpected year of Luka`s life.”
He is expected to spend the summer playing for the Slovenian men`s national basketball team at EuroBasket, sources said. He will be accompanied throughout the offseason by members of his personal “body team” – Slovenian national team strength coach Anže Maček and physiotherapist Javier Barrio Calvo.
Redick, appearing alongside Pelinka at Thursday`s news conference, outlined his expectations for the team during the offseason. In a message seemingly directed at Doncic, Redick stated: “We need to get into championship condition.”
On August 2, the Lakers are eligible to offer Doncic a four-year, $229 million contract extension. According to ESPN NBA front office insider Bobby Marks, Doncic also has the option of signing a three-year, $165 million extension that includes a player option in 2028. This would allow him to sign a max deal in 2028, providing him with 35% of the salary cap for five seasons.
Sources close to Doncic indicated he will take his time deciding, although he told ESPN`s Malika Andrews before the playoffs that he wished to remain in Los Angeles.
Doncic was publicly and privately heartbroken by the trade to the Lakers, having expressed a desire to retire in Dallas. However, a silver lining exists, offering some solace from the pain of a defeat that prompts more questions than answers.
“For Luka,” a source close to him told ESPN, “it`s sort of a feeling of, `I`m wanted here.`”
Sources noted that James made a deliberate effort to empower Doncic since his arrival in L.A. and will not attempt to influence his teammate`s future decision.
“No, that`s not my role,” James told ESPN. “I believe… no, I know, Luka understands how I feel about him. Ultimately, that trade happened with the future in mind. It wasn`t for me. Luka must decide what`s best for his future. He`s 26 years old, I`m 40, so he cannot base his career decisions on me. That`s the plain truth.”
“But I hope, naturally, [he stays long term],” James continued. “Laker fans absolutely love him here. L.A. has embraced him. We love him as a teammate, as a brother. But ultimately, he has to make the decision for himself. Frankly, I won`t be playing much longer.”
The Lakers have clearly communicated their intention to invest in Doncic for the foreseeable future.
“I believe Luka Doncic joining forces with the Los Angeles Lakers represents a significant event in NBA history,” Pelinka stated at his introductory press conference.
Yet, until that August date arrives, the team faces the task of conveying its vision and demonstrating to Doncic that this year`s first-round defeat was an anomaly, merely a difficult beginning to what they hope will be a long and successful partnership.