The Los Angeles Lakers are just over six weeks away from kicking off their 2025-26 NBA season, and superstar Luka Doncic has been keeping busy by representing his home country of Slovenia at the ongoing EuroBasket tournament. On Sunday, Doncic poured in 42 points in a win over Italy, overcoming an injury suffered at the end of the first quarter and returning to help his team advance.
Lakers star LeBron James subtly approved of the performance by resposting a post from the NBA and EuroBasket on his Instagram story that was highlighting Doncic's achievement.
LeBron James Instagram story 👀 pic.twitter.com/4yVGCie5Ez
— Fullcourtpass (@Fullcourtpass) September 7, 2025
Slovenia will next take on Germany in the tournament.
A good sight for Lakers fans
Doncic's epic performance and James' shoutout on social media will certainly be a sight for sore eyes for Los Angeles Lakers fans everywhere, who have suffered through a bit of a strange offseason regarding their two stars.
On the one hand, Doncic did sign an extension with the franchise, signaling his commitment to the team that shockingly traded for him seven months ago, and he has also debuted a new slimmed-down frame and better conditioning ahead of the new season.
On the other, James used his professional mouthpiece Rich Paul to put out a statement attempting to get people to think that he was discontent with the Lakers, only to then sign his player option with the team and stick around for the upcoming 2025-26 season.
The fact that James is now publicly promoting Doncic's achievements to his millions of followers on social media suggests that whatever divide he had with the team has now been bridged.
This season will be the first year of James' career that he is clearly not the number one option on his team heading into the campaign, and at the age of 40 (soon to be 41), that will likely be a weight off the 4-time MVP's shoulders after he had to carry the team through large stretches of the past several years.
In any case, the Lakers are slated to kick off their 2025-26 season with a home game against the divisional rival Golden State Warriors on October 21 in Los Angeles.
