Flight 77 on the Los Angeles Lakers is ready for takeoff.
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Luka Doncic dunked once in the 2024-25 regular season. In 2023-24, that number gets doubled, to two. In 2025-26, the Los Angeles Lakers superstar should have the needed explosion and lift to be a more frequent flier.
Edo Muric, Doncic’s Slovenian teammate who will be sharing the court with him at EuroBasket 2025, has already praised the physique. The choice of verbiage was very noticeable with his comments.Muric told BasketNews, “He’s faster and jumps more. This year, I expect him to be the best version of himself. … It’s super hard [to defend him]. … He’s more experienced, maturing, he understands the game better and better every year.”
The added rim pressure from Doncic will be a crucial element to the Lakers’ success. That dunking should be the cherry on top of it all for fans in Los Angeles.
Doncic has literally never thrown the ball down in purple and gold. The lone dunk of the 2024-25 regular season came with the Dallas Mavericks. There were no slams for Luka in the 2025 NBA Playoffs either.
Who remembers when Doncic blew the roof off the American Airlines Arena with his former team after jamming the basketball right over Jrue Holiday in transition? The building erupted at the filthy poster, with screams of what could be considered partial disbelief. That was back in 2022.
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Doncic has not always been as close to the ground as has been the case in the past two seasons. That 2022-23 poster was one of 12 dunks thrown down by the now Lakers superstar.
The standard was set in his rookie season. Doncic’s career high in dunks continues to be 2018-19, his first campaign in the NBA, when the Slovenian superstar hammered home 25 jams in the regular season.
Lakers fans would gush at the opportunity to see Luka add that bit of magic back into his arsenal. It would not only be for the fanfare, but for what it all represents in the grand scheme of things.
Nico Harrison and the Mavericks were very vocal about their concerns of Doncic’s body breaking down sooner than expected. Seeing him flying above the rim like his teenage self once more would be a loud statement against that silly belief.
The most important clapback that Doncic could deliver to his former team would be taking his new one to the NBA Finals in 2025-26. However, Lakers fans will surely not pass up on the enjoyment that would be getting up for several Luka slams throughout the 2025-26 NBA season.