Luka Doncic wants to finish his career with the Lakers and says it would be nice to win MVP

Luka Doncic was blindsided when Dallas traded him to the Lakers, and he does not want more surprises. He told Melissa Rohlin he would like to spend the rest of his career with the organization.

“Hopefully, yeah,” Doncic said. “But as you know in this NBA business, you never know what’s going to happen. But I feel like I’ve found something here that’s very comfortable for me. And hopefully [that happens].”

He also wants individual recognition alongside championships. “Obviously a championship, that’s what you play for every game,” he said. “But obviously it would be nice to win the MVP also. Not everybody can say they have an MVP, so obviously that would be nice. But that comes with the team first. If you don’t play good, you’re never going to win championships or MVP. So, we’ve got to play good. I’m very excited to go to war with these people. I think we had a great training camp and we’re ready to go.”

The Lakers open the season against Golden State with Walker Kessler in the middle. A Western Conference scout told Dan Woike that “their season hinges on Walker Kessler,” who has to be healthy and good after playing five games last season because of a left shoulder labral tear. Jake LaRavia told Law Murray he expects to come off the bench in the opener, and Collin Sexton has a right soleus strain and will not play, Khobi Price reports.