EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Around-the-league NBA notes on a Sunday?
On the day after I attended a press conference to fête Luka Dončić once he officially signed his much-anticipated contract extension with the Lakers?
On the same Sunday that I will board an evening plane and grudgingly leave behind the sumptuous Marina del Rey weather?
As it should be!
To the latest from my notebook on all things Dončić post-extension — including a key component of his new deal that has not been explained until now — updates on De’Aaron Fox and Jonathan Kuminga, pinpointing a slew of free agency matters that have yet to be resolved and some Knicks coaching talk:
The three-year contract extension Dončić chose to ink, as explained here yesterday, includes a player option for 2028-29 that enables him to become a free agent in the summer of 2028 and then sign a five-year deal worth in excess of $400 million. That second Lakers deal would more than offset the five-year supermax in the $340 million range that he was initially expected to sign with the Mavericks this summer.
Yet there is another bonus that comes with the contract structure Dončić chose: