Luka Doncic has become the face of the Los Angeles Lakers in name and play.
The Slovenian superstar is still adjusting to life under the bright lights of LA, but the point guard’s arrival during the 2025 trade deadline radically transformed the Purple and Gold to one of the most intriguing teams in the association that can immediately compete for a nineteenth NBA title.
The Lakers have the personnel and coaching to help Luka make his second Finals appearance, and his status as the future face of the league is all but secured with his move to such a big-market team.
The latest proof of Doncic becoming the latest supernova to join the Purple and Gold showed itself in one of the most visible metrics for the league’s bigwigs and the fans.
Luka Doncic surges to the top of jersey sales rankings as he prepares for the postseason with the Los Angeles Lakers
Yahoo! Sports writer Kari Anderson reported that Doncic became the first international player to rank atop the jersey sales list. His jersey outsold players like Jayson Tatum, Jalen Brunson, and Victor Wembanyama.
She also wrote about how the Slovenian superstar broke the hegemony of LeBron James and Stephen Curry in taking the top spot:
Dončić broke an 11-year streak of either Curry or James holding the top spot. James was the highest-selling jersey during the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons — his final year with the Miami Heat and first with the Cleveland Cavaliers during his second stint — before Curry took over for the next three years during his championship run with the Golden State Warriors.
In 2018, when James joined the Lakers, he took over the top jersey spot again and held it for five straight years. Curry once again took over as the highest-selling jersey last season.
Most of the jersey sales Doncic received have a lot to do with the transaction that had the Mavericks send him to California for Anthony Davis and Max Christie. However, it’s also hard to deny that Doncic gave the Purple and Gold faithful something to look forward to beyond the current season.
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