Los Angeles Lakers Rumors

Luka Doncic Cleared To Return Following Injury Scare

August 18th, 2025 at 1:06pm CST by Rory Maher

August 18: Doncic has been cleared to play for Slovenia on Tuesday vs. Great Britain, tweets Marc Stein of The Stein Line.

August 17: After a teammate fell into his leg during the third quarter of an exhibition game against Latvia on Saturday (Twitter video link via Dan Woike of The Athletic), Slovenian captain and Lakers star Luka Doncic reportedly suffered a right knee contusion that was not believed to be serious and would not impact his status for EuroBasket 2025, which tips off later this month.

This morning, Slovenia’s basketball federation announced (via Twitter) that Doncic would practice on Monday, officially putting to rest any lingering concerns about the injury. Slovenia will face Great Britain in another exhibition contest on Tuesday.

Doncic signed a three-year, maximum-salary extension with the Lakers earlier this month on the first day he was eligible to do so. The deal features a player option for the 2028/29 season.

The NBA’s Rookie of the Year in 2019 and a five-time All-NBA first-teamer from 2020-24, Doncic battled a calf issue last season that limited him to a career-low 50 games (22 for Dallas and 28 for L.A.). The 26-year-old put up his usual superlative numbers when he was available, averaging 28.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, 7.7 assists, and 1.8 steals per game with a .450/.368/.782 shooting line.

Rui Hachimura Unlikely To Receive Extension Before Camp

August 16th, 2025 at 5:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Rui Hachimura is eligible for a contract extension, but the Lakers aren’t expected to pursue a new deal before training camp opens next month, reporter Jovan Buha stated on his latest Buha’s Block podcast (YouTube link).

“With the current intel I have, I do not expect Rui to be extended by the Lakers in the next six weeks,” Buha said. “It’s certainly possible that something happens, but I would say most of what’s been out there is them wanting to keep the books clean and wanting to see whether he starts or whether he’s their sixth man and how the pieces fit this year.”

The 27-year-old power forward became eligible for an extension when the NBA’s new calendar year began on July 6. He currently has an $18,259,259 expiring contract and will be an unrestricted free agent next summer if he doesn’t work out a new deal with L.A.

Hachimura has been a valuable contributor for the Lakers since he was acquired from Washington in January of 2023. He became a full-time starter last season and averaged 13.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 59 games with .509/.413/.770 shooting numbers.

Hachimura’s future will be affected by the Lakers’ well-known desire to preserve cap space for the summer of 2027. Luka Doncic currently holds the team’s only significant contract that extends past the 2026/27 season, although Jarred Vanderbilt will have a $13.3MM player option that summer.

Whether it’s through an extension or a new contract in free agency, L.A.’s front office will eventually have to decide whether locking up a valuable asset like Hachimura is worth sacrificing some cap room in a summer that could feature a historically great free agent class.

Doncic Gets Injury Scare During Slovenian Exhibition Game

August 16th, 2025 at 1:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

2:23pm: Doncic has a right knee contusion, Marc Stein tweets. He’ll remain with the Slovenian national team and compete in EuroBasket, Woike tweets.

1:30pm: Lakers superstar Luka Doncic apparently avoided a serious injury after a Slovenian teammate landed on his right leg during an exhibition game on Saturday, Dan Woike of The Athletic tweets.

Early in the second half, Gregor Hrovat fell on Doncic’s knee during a defensive play, according to Eurohoops.net. Doncic was able to head to the locker room on his own power but did not return to the game. Doncic, who scored 26 points against Latvia during the first half, did return to the bench to watch his Slovenian teammates collect a 100-88 victory.

It remains to be seen how this will impact Doncic’s status for the EuroBasket tournament. Slovenia is scheduled to play its tourney opener against Poland on Aug. 28. They’ll also face France, Belgium, Iceland and Israel.

Doncic signed a three-year max extension with the Lakers earlier this month.

NBA Teams Average 14.4 Back-To-Backs In 2025/26

August 15th, 2025 at 9:32am CST by Luke Adams

Five NBA teams will play a league-high 16 back-to-back sets during the 2025/26 regular season, while six clubs will have just 13 instances of back-to-back games on their schedules. The remaining 19 teams will play either 14 or 15 back-to-backs.

[RELATED: 2025/26 NBA Schedules By Team]

Those totals – along with an overall average of 14.4 back-to-backs per team – are about what we’ve come to expect in recent years.

Prior to the COVID-shortened seasons of 2019/20 and ’20/21, the NBA’s regular season consisted of 177 days, and the league had made a concerted effort to reduce instances of back-to-backs. When the league announced its initial schedule in ’19/20, its press release boasted that teams were averaging a record-low 12.4 back-to-backs that season, marking the fifth straight year in which that number had reached an all-time low.

However, since 2021/22, NBA regular seasons have spanned just 174 days, making it a little more difficult for schedule-makers to avoid back-to-back sets. The average number of back-to-backs per team is still well below where it once was (teams averaged 19.3 in 2024/25), but it’s no longer at a record low.

Here are the back-to-backs by team in 2025/26:

Charlotte Hornets: 16
Denver Nuggets: 16
Philadelphia 76ers: 16
Phoenix Suns: 16
Washington Wizards: 16
Golden State Warriors: 15
Los Angeles Clippers: 15
Miami Heat: 15
New Orleans Pelicans: 15
Portland Trail Blazers: 15
Toronto Raptors: 15
Utah Jazz: 15
Brooklyn Nets: 14
Cleveland Cavaliers: 14
Dallas Mavericks: 14
Detroit Pistons: 14
Houston Rockets: 14
Los Angeles Lakers: 14
Memphis Grizzlies: 14
Milwaukee Bucks: 14
New York Knicks: 14
Orlando Magic: 14
Sacramento Kings: 14
San Antonio Spurs: 14
Atlanta Hawks: 13
Boston Celtics: 13
Chicago Bulls: 13
Indiana Pacers: 13
Minnesota Timberwolves: 13
Oklahoma City Thunder: 13

Warriors, Lakers, Knicks, Thunder Get Most Nationally Televised Games For 2025/26

August 15th, 2025 at 7:51am CST by Luke Adams

Having gone from two national broadcasting partners (ABC/ESPN and TNT) to three (ABC/ESPN, NBC, and Amazon Prime) ahead of the 2025/26 season, the NBA’s schedule will feature a significant increase in nationally televised games.

When the league unveiled its full regular season schedule on Thursday, it announced 237 nationally televised regular season matchups, along with the seven knockout round NBA Cup games whose participants aren’t yet known, for a total of 244 contests.

As Colin Salao of Front Office Sports writes in a subscriber story, the total number of nationally televised games is up by more than 40% from last season, when the league’s partners nationally broadcasted a total of 172 games.

Salao also points out that beginning in the middle of the season, when the NFL schedule starts winding down, the NBA will have national games every day of the week: Peacock on Monday; NBC/Peacock on Tuesday; ESPN on Wednesday; Amazon on Thursday; Amazon and ESPN on Friday; Amazon and ABC on Saturday; and ABC, NBC, and Peacock on Sunday.

Every team will be featured at least twice on the national TV broadcast schedule, with the Warriors, Lakers, Knicks, and defending champion Thunder leading the way with 34 appearances apiece.

Here’s the full breakdown of nationally televised games by team:

Golden State Warriors: 34
Los Angeles Lakers: 34
New York Knicks: 34
Oklahoma City Thunder: 34
Houston Rockets: 28
Minnesota Timberwolves: 28
Denver Nuggets: 26
Boston Celtics: 25
Cleveland Cavaliers: 24
Dallas Mavericks: 23
San Antonio Spurs: 22
Los Angeles Clippers: 21
Milwaukee Bucks: 18
Detroit Pistons: 16
Orlando Magic: 14
Philadelphia 76ers: 14
Atlanta Hawks: 13
Memphis Grizzlies: 10
Indiana Pacers: 9
Phoenix Suns: 9
Sacramento Kings: 9
Portland Trail Blazers: 8
Miami Heat: 5
Charlotte Hornets: 3
Chicago Bulls: 3
Brooklyn Nets: 2
New Orleans Pelicans: 2
Toronto Raptors: 2
Utah Jazz: 2
Washington Wizards: 2

Since nationally televised matchups are subject to change, there’s no guarantee that every team will ultimately end up being featured multiple times on the national stage.

As Salao points out, all 30 clubs showed up at least once on the national broadcast schedule initially announced for 2024/25, but the Wizards didn’t get any nationally televised games after having their lone contest replaced by a showdown between Cleveland and Oklahoma City.

Additionally, not every team this season will have a game aired on a traditional, non-streaming network — the only games featuring the Raptors or Wizards will air on either Peacock or Amazon Prime.

Lakers To Unveil Pat Riley Statue On Feb. 22

August 14th, 2025 at 5:29pm CST by Rory Maher

The Lakers will honor legendary former coach Pat Riley with a statue that will be unveiled on February 22 against longtime rival Boston, according to a report from The Associated Press.

Riley spent five-plus seasons with the Lakers during his nine-year playing career, winning a championship as a role player during the 1971/72 campaign, the same season in which Los Angeles set the NBA record for longest winning streak at 33 consecutive games. After his playing days ended, he became a broadcaster for the Lakers and an assistant coach prior to becoming head coach in 1981/82.

Riley’s head coaching stint with the Lakers — which covered nine seasons and ended in ’89/90 — was one of the most successful runs of any coach in league history. During the “Showtime” era under Riley, the Lakers won four championships and made seven total NBA Finals appearances. Los Angeles won at least 50 games every year with Riley at the helm, crossing the 60-win threshold five times.

Overall, Riley compiled a 533-194 regular season record (.733 winning percentage) as the Lakers’ coach and went 102-47 (.685) during the playoffs.

Riley, who added another head coaching ring to his collection with Miami in 2006, has been the Heat‘s president and top basketball executive for the past 30 years. The Heat named their home court after the 80-year-old last October.

Riley will be the eighth Lakers legend to be honored with a statue outside the team’s arena, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Shaquille O’Neal and broadcaster Chick Hearn.

Lakers Notes: LeBron, Hachimura, Thiero, Trade Prospects

August 13th, 2025 at 10:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

LeBron James may have been offering a hint about his future, or he could have been trolling fans, the media and Lakers management. Either way, it seems newsworthy that he and former teammate Anthony Davis both posted the same message to their Instagram accounts on Tuesday (hat tip to Ricky O’Donnell of Yahoo Sports).

It’s a quote from entrepreneur and life coach Jay Shetty that reads, “Becoming the best version of yourself comes with a lot of goodbyes.”

James’ future with the Lakers has been up in the air since he picked up his $52.6MM player option in late June. The online message could mean he’s contemplating saying goodbye to Los Angeles, either at some point this season or when he becomes an unrestricted free agent next summer.

The Mavericks have been mentioned as a possible next team for James, so Davis’ involvement could be significant. Going to Dallas would also reunite James with former Cleveland teammate Kyrie Irving and possibly turn the Mavs into legitimate title contenders again.

There’s more on the Lakers:

Rui Hachimura is also a year away from free agency and has the chance to earn a long-term deal with L.A. by putting together another strong season, Dan Woike of The Athletic writes in a mailbag column. Even though the Lakers are preserving cap space for the summer of 2027, they may decide Hachimura is worth the investment. He has shot better than 50% from the field and 40% from three-point range in both of his full seasons in L.A., and he showed improvement on defense last season. Woike also views him as a player who’ll benefit from spending a full season with Luka Doncic.
Second-round pick Adou Thiero, who missed all of Summer League while recovering from a knee injury he suffered in college, has been working out in the Lakers’ facility and is expected to be ready for training camp, Woike states in the same piece. The 21-year-old power forward was selected with the 36th pick in this year’s draft and was part of the seven-team deal that sent Kevin Durant from Phoenix to Houston. Woike notes that Thiero faces a crowded path to get playing time, but adds that he has the defensive skills to give himself a chance.
With 14 players holding standard contracts, Woike doesn’t expect the Lakers to make any more trades before the start of the season. They have an available first-rounder, a second-rounder and some swaps to offer, but Woike believes it’s more likely they’ll save those assets for a potential deal later on.

Giannis Antetokounmpo Still Awaiting Bucks’ Approval For EuroBasket

August 13th, 2025 at 7:21pm CST by Arthur Hill

Giannis Antetokounmpo hasn’t taken part in any team activities as Greece prepares for EuroBasket because he’s still waiting for the Bucks to provide written permission for him to participate, according to Aris Barkas and Stavros Barbarousis of Eurohoops.

While most players don’t need permission from their NBA clubs to play in international tournaments, Antetokounmpo is an exception due to the size of his contract, sources tell the authors. They explain that the FIBA insurance policy, which is covered by the Greek federation, doesn’t pay enough to cover Antetokounmpo’s NBA contract in case he suffers a serious injury. Because there’s a cap on the insurance payout, he can’t proceed without authorization from the Bucks.

Barkas and Barbarousis note that Nuggets center Nikola Jokic and Lakers guard Luka Doncic are also affected by that stipulation, but they are both practicing and participating in exhibition games with their EuroBasket teams.

The FIBA-NBA agreement permits NBA players to join their national team’s training camp 28 days before the start of a major FIBA competition. Greece’s first EuroBasket game will take place on August 28, so Antetokounmpo would have been permitted to start training at the beginning of the month if not for the insurance snag.

Antetokounmpo has already missed three Greek exhibition contests, and he isn’t expected to play against Montenegro on Thursday. The authors state that Greece will participate in the Acropolis tournament before wrapping up exhibition play August 24 against France, but it’s still uncertain whether Antetokounmpo will be cleared to suit up for any of those contests.

The issue comes amid continuing uncertainty over Antetokounmpo’s future in Milwaukee. Trade speculation was rekindled earlier this month when Shams Charania of ESPN reported that the two-time MVP remains uncertain that he can achieve his goal of winning at least one more NBA title while playing for the Bucks.

Western Notes: Topic, Beal, Abdelfattah, Holsopple

August 12th, 2025 at 6:05pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Nikola Topic, a 2024 lottery pick, spent his entire first season in the NBA rehabbing a partially torn ACL in his left knee that required surgery. The Thunder guard took some positives from his long road to recovery, he told Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman.

“I didn’t play a basketball game for a very long time, and that was really hard,” Topic said. “But as you go through that process, you learn something about yourself that you didn’t know you had. … I took positives from it and learned from it.”

Topic returned to action during the Summer League. He averaged 10.8 points, 5.8 assists and 1.8 steals in 27.3 minutes per game in five appearances.

“I feel more confident,” Topic said. “Going into a game, sleeping before a game and just everything about it, I feel way more confident.”

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

Bradley Beal‘s primary motivation to sign with the Clippers was the opportunity to join another contender. “I need a ring. I want one bad. I feel like I’ve got a new life of rejuvenation, for sure, a new hunger. I’m excited about the opportunity, new city, a new environment but a hungry environment, too,” he told KMOV’s Tamar Sher (video link). After getting bought out by the Suns, Beal signed a two-year, $11MM contract with a player option.
The Timberwolves are hiring Mahmoud Abdelfattah as head coach of their NBA G League affiliate, the Iowa Wolves, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets. Abdelfattah will also be an assistant coach for USA Basketball’s AmeriCup Qualifying Team. He was previously the head coach of Australia’s Sydney Kings.
The Lakers are hiring Jeremy Holsopple as their new head strength and conditioning coach, Marc Stein of The Stein Line tweets. As the Mavericks’ athletic performance director, Holsopple was named as the NBA’s top strength and conditioning coach in March 2021.

International Notes: Theis, EuroBasket, Doncic, Cancar, Nebo

August 11th, 2025 at 9:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Former NBA big man Daniel Theis signed with AS Monaco in February, spurning an offer from Greek powerhouse Panathinaikos. Theis apparently could have stayed in the NBA after being waived by the Thunder, Eurohoops.net relays.

“Before coming to Europe, I had an offer from the Knicks,” Theis told Euro Insiders. “Mitchell Robinson was coming back from injury. I spoke with (Tom) Thibodeau and he told me I would be insurance for them if Robinson couldn’t play. I thought, if I stay until the end of the season and don’t play, what chances will I have in the summer? So I said, ‘I’m going to Europe. If I play well, I’ll have better chances.’ Maybe I wouldn’t have come to Europe if (Monaco coach Vassilis) Spanoulis hadn’t called me. I didn’t just look at the money, but the school, the life, everything.”

Theis played for six different NBA teams and had grown weary of being on the move.

“Trades in the NBA are kind of like, ‘Thank you, but you have to go — we traded you to Chicago.’ Then you pass medicals, go back for two days to where you were to get your things and move. It’s tough,” he said. “After some years, you see the business side of the league. Sometimes it’s not that your team doesn’t want you, but another team wants you more. Or sometimes you’re part of a trade because your contract fits better somewhere else. It’s like Panini stickers — you take two, I take one. When you have a family, it’s not easy.”

Here’s more international news:

Alex Mumbru is the current head coach of the German national team. While Germany has plenty of NBA firepower, he told Spanish news agency EFE (hat tip to Eurohoops.net) that he considers Serbia and France the favorites in this year’s EuroBasket tournament. “We have to play well, improve every day, try to play good basketball, and the team has to have chemistry. Pressure? Everyone’s trying to create it,” he said. “I think Serbia and France are the two strongest teams. We have good players, too, and we’re going to the EuroBasket to win and compete seriously. I’m sure we’ll go there with great desire.”
Luka Doncic claimed that Vlatko Cancar and Josh Nebo were blocked from representing Slovenia by Olimpia Milano, according to Grant Afseth of the Dallas Hoops Journal. “As far as I understand, the club didn’t allow them to come,” he said “In the end, the Lakers allowed it, Milan didn’t. I’d rather not get involved in it, but that should be the player’s decision. In my opinion. Those two are not at fault.” However, Aris Barkas of Eurohoops reports that an official statement released by Milan’s GM Christos Stavropoulos refuted Doncic’s claim. “Regarding some recent media reports, I would like to clarify on behalf of the club that the health of our players has always been and always will be our priority,” he said. “In the specific cases of Vlatko Cancar and Josh Nebo, I need to point out that both players are recovering from very serious injuries that severely limited their availability during the last season. In agreement with them, a procedure for their gradual return to action will be implemented to safeguard principally their health and long-term competitiveness.”
Barkas calls EuroBasket a can’t-miss tournament due its star power, making it superior to any other international basketball event outside of the Olympics.