Luka Doncic Took Out a Full-Page LA Times Ad Before the Lakers Opener: What His Promise to Fans Means
Luka Doncic bought a full page of the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday to print an open letter to Lakers fans, hours before his team opened the season against the Golden State Warriors at Crypto.com Arena.
The letter was addressed to LA in block capitals and signed off with two words: “Let’s go.” The line that traveled was the promise in the middle of it. Doncic wrote that the team would give fans everything it has every single night, then added five words: “No excuses. No nights off.”
He opened by telling fans that the run for a championship starts now, said the team expects to be held to what the city expects of it, and thanked Los Angeles for welcoming him “with open arms” after the February 2025 trade. Sportswriter Dan Woike surfaced the page on X Wednesday morning.
Why He Did It Now
This is the first Lakers season since 2018 without LeBron James. James left in free agency in July and signed with the Philadelphia 76ers. The roster around Doncic was rebuilt inside of two weeks: Walker Kessler from Utah, Quentin Grimes from Philadelphia, Collin Sexton from Chicago, Kevon Looney from New Orleans, with Austin Reaves re-signed and Deandre Ayton, Jaxson Hayes, Marcus Smart and Rui Hachimura gone.
That leaves Doncic as the whole franchise, with no shared billing, for the first time in his career. He is 27 and under contract through 2028 on the three-year, $165 million extension he signed in August 2025, which carries a player option in the final year.
Buying a newspaper page is how a player announces he understands the job. It is also a bet. Nobody puts “no nights off” in print unless he is willing to be read that line back to him in February.
He Has Earned the Right to Say It
Doncic led the NBA in scoring last season at 33.5 points per game with 7.7 rebounds and 8.3 assists across 64 games. The Lakers went 53-29, took the four seed, beat Houston in six, and were swept by Oklahoma City in the Western Conference semifinals. He strained his left hamstring on April 2 and did not play again.
Wednesday night was his first game since. JJ Redick started him alongside Reaves, Kessler, Grimes and Jake LaRavia. Golden State won both preseason meetings between the two, 124-98 on October 6 and 101-89 on October 13.
The Comparison Worth Making
In February 2025, hours after Dallas traded him, Doncic published an open letter to Mavericks fans that began with his arrival as a teenager seven years earlier and said he had wanted badly to win them a title. That one was free, and it went on X.
This one cost money and ran on newsprint, in a city where plenty of people under 40 have never bought a paper. The choice reads as deliberate. He wanted the version of the fan base that still reads at the kitchen table.
The last NBA star to try this was LeBron James in 2010, and it did not land the way he wanted. James took out a full page in the Akron Beacon Journal to thank his hometown, and the story became everything he left out of it: Cleveland, his teammates, the owner who had just written his own letter. That was a goodbye dressed as gratitude.
Doncic’s works the other way around. He is staying, and he put the expectation in print himself rather than waiting for somebody to set it for him. The Lakers have not won a title since 2020. He just told the city, in writing and with his name on it, that he intends to be the reason that changes.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
