The Lakers officially announced that they had reached an early contract renewal with Doncic. According to famous reporter Shams, Doncic renewed the Lakers early with a three-year, $165 million maximum salary contract. ESPN rating this operation of the Lakers:

Rating: Qualification (the renewal rating uses the pass/failure standard)

Six months ago, the Lakers were able to successfully get Doncic from the Mavericks trade, partly because they can be relatively sure that Doncic will not leave the team as a full free agent in the summer of 2026.

It is reported that the Lakers have taken advantage of the potential risk of Doncic's possible departure and successfully excluded the remaining first-round draft picks from the transaction package. However, the situation soon became clear: Even if Doncic himself prefers to stay in Dallas, he is willing to continue signing on the basis of the remaining full season of the original contract.

Doncic had to wait until Friday to sign a contract formally due to restrictions on signing before and after the deal, but his willingness to help the Lakers recruit free agents this year's offseason has long foreshadowed the inevitability of this result.

The only suspense about this contract renewal is how Doncic builds his new contract. This three-year contract extension, which includes the 2028-29 season player options, ideally helps Doncic make up for the salary he lost when he was traded by the Mavericks.

If he had stayed in Dallas and signed a super maximum salary renewal, Doncic could have raised his salary to 35% of the salary cap in the 2026-27 season (estimated at $57.9 million) with his consecutive top-squad selections in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons.

However, the super top salary clause does not apply to players who change teams after the rookie contract is over, so Doncic's salary cap now can only be 30% of the salary cap or 5% higher than last season, taking the higher of the two. If the 2026-27 season's salary cap is set as expected, Doncic's new contract starting salary will only slightly improve his existing $49 million player option.

The real huge salary may arrive in the 2028-29 season. Doncic will have 10 years of NBA experience by then. Whether as a full free agent or signing another contract extension in August 2027, he will be able to earn a starting salary of 35% of the salary cap. By then, the Lakers' roster should be very different.

After the end of the new season, Doncic is the only player on the Lakers with an annual salary of more than $15 million. If this kind of cap space flexibility is to be maintained until the summer of 2027, the Lakers need to make a major sacrifice besides James. They may be able to renew Reeves (who can be a full free agent next offseason), but they will face a tough choice on Hachimura and Ayton (if Ayton refuses to execute the $8.1 million player option).

In the process of striving to get rid of the mistakes made after winning the 2020 championship, the Lakers still have challenges ahead, but the most important puzzle is already in place. With Doncic, the Lakers have the future superstar.