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The Los Angeles Lakers frontcourt situation looks far more promising now than it did to begin the offseason.
On Wednesday, the Lakers completed a blockbuster sign-and-trade to acquire Walker Kessler from the Utah Jazz. The Lakers, who will sign Kessler to a four-year, $130 million contract, sent two unprotected first-round picks and two pick swaps to the Jazz to make the deal work.
Although Luka Doncic should be happy the Lakers went out of their way to pair him with his dream center (they essentially had to pay Kessler a bit more than what he’s worth to land him), CBS Sports’ Sam Quinn doesn’t believe that the long-term ramifications of the sign-and-trade will be positive.
Specifically, Quinn thinks the Lakers will still struggle to get over the hump in the Western Conference, prompting him to predict that Doncic will leave Los Angeles to ring-chase with the Dallas Mavericks during the 2028 offseason.
“I think the Lakers went all in on a roster that’s destined to lose to the Thunder and/or Spurs,” Quinn wrote on X/Twitter. “They just don’t have the capacity to get the wings they’ll need now.”
“Luka’s best chance at a title, imo, is returning to Dallas in 2028 and rolling with Cooper Flagg. Pretty easily.”
At the end of the day, Doncic wants to get a taste of what it’s like to hold the Larry O’Brien trophy at the end of a season. While Kessler, along with Collin Sexton, Quentin Grimes, and Sandro Mamukelashvili, don’t get the job done in 2026-27 and 2027-28, Doncic could decide to opt out of his $57 million player option and enter free agency.
It’s challenging to envision the Mavericks being atop Doncic’s list of potential landing spots, though, given how his early-career stint with the franchise ended. Dallas clearly didn’t value the six-time All-Star the way they should have, which explains why they shipped him to the Lakers in 2025 for Anthony Davis without warning.
As we all know, Davis is no longer a member of the Mavericks following his 2025-26 midseason trade to the Washington Wizards, making the Mavericks' decision to swap Doncic for the 33-year-old injury-prone center an even bigger slap in the face.
Crazier things have happened, though, and if Doncic is truly astonished with the direction of the Flagg-led Mavericks two years from now, a reunion couldn’t be ruled out.
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