Luka Dončić Pushes Slovenia Past Italy, Continues Fueling Hype Around the "Luka Era" for the Lakers

Luka Dončić has gotten progressively better game to game throughout Eurobasket, helping Slovenia get on a hot streak. Sunday against Italy in the Round of 16, Luka put in his best effort of the competition, finishing with 42 points, 10 rebounds and three steals. He throttled the Italians, basically accounting for half of Slovenia's offense. He continued drawing fouls, getting to the line 16 times. All in all, his performance is ramping up as the tourney goes along, and he gets more comfortable and gets more minutes under his belt. Even as the competition gets more intense and the quality rises. All of this contributes to add to the "Summer of Luka," and while Lakers fans obviously can't project with precision how Luka's performance for Slovenia will carry through into the regular season (not that they won't try), one thing that is unquestionably true: Everything that's happened this offseason is a) likely beyond the best case scenario envisioned by Lakers management for the summer, and b) increasing the already incredibly high level of anticipation about his presence on the team. In many ways, it reinforces the notion that the Luka Era really began at the end of last season, not necessarily when he was traded to the Lakers. Meanwhile, the Basketball HOF had its induction ceremony over the weekend, and Dwight Howard was there as a first-ballot HOFer. Why does that seem to surprise and anger a certain element of the fan base? HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky SEGMENT 1: Luka lights up Italy. SEGMENT 2: How this impacts the dawn of the Luka Era in LA. SEGMENT 3: Why is there resistance to Dwight Howard in getting in the HOF first ballot? Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! 5-Hour ENERGY Tee up that trip! Enter for a chance to win a dream golf trip for two to any golf tournament* in the USA. Visit 5HEWIN.com for full rules and entry. No purchase necessary. Excludes the Master’s tournament. Ends October 31, 2025. Monarch Money Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNBA at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnba for 50% off your first year FanDuel Right now, new customers can bet just FIVE dollars and if your bet wins—you’ll get THREE HUNDRED dollars in bonus bets to use across the app. Download the FanDuel app now by visiting FanDuel.com to get started FANDUEL DISCLAIMER : 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.