Lakers’ Luka Doncic is starting to feel some pressure to win a championship, says ESPN insider

Lakers’ Luka Doncic is starting to feel some pressure to win a championship, says ESPN insider originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Los Angeles Lakers have gone through a lot of change this offseason, to say the least, especially with their roster. The team brought in half a roster of new faces, trying to build around Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves.

The organization was also sold in August in a record-breaking deal. However, even with the change in management, Doncic has been vocal about liking the position the team is in.

“Being a Laker means everything to me, and I’m excited to get back on the court and bring a championship to LA. I’ve gotten used to big changes over these last few years, but I know that no matter what, there is no limit to the potential of this iconic franchise. I look forward to meeting Josh and Bob so we can get to work building something special in LA together,” Doncic posted.

Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka has also made it very clear that Doncic is solely focused on playing good basketball and nothing else.

“Ultimately, I have the final responsibility to make calls on the roster and Luka is very clear like, ‘I want you to do your job. I don’t want to be the GM, I don’t want to be the head coach. JJ, you are the coach, Rob, you are the GM and president. Do your jobs,” Pelinka said.

ESPN NBA insider Tim MacMahon recently brought up that he believes Doncic is starting to feel some pressure to win an NBA championship.

“He’s in the best shape that he’s been in since his rookie year. I expect that he’ll defend his scoring title. I expect that he’s going to average something like 34, 9 & 9. He’s at the caliber of star and at the age now, he’ll turn 28 this year. A player that’s that good that’s yet to win a championship. There starts to be a weight that comes along with that and he’s about at that point in his career,” MacMahon said.

Doncic was so close to winning a title just a few seasons ago, but he really hasn’t been close to getting back since. After all, he did miss last season’s playoffs with a serious injury suffered at the end of the regular season.

The good news is that the weight of pressure could make Doncic play with some urgency to make things happen. The bad news is that he could start pressing and do things that don’t need to happen.