Six Years After Banner 17, Doncic Inherits a Lakers Team…

By the Lakers Nightly Desk · Wednesday, September 30

Six years ago today, the Lakers opened the 2020 Finals with a 116-98 win over Miami, the first step toward a championship that tied Boston at seventeen titles apiece. That banner hung on a team LeBron James led; this season opens with James gone and Luka Doncic as the only star left holding the weight.

Luka Doncic of the Lakers — Luka Doncic. Photo: Erik Drost, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Game One, Six Years Gone

On this date in 2020, the Lakers beat the Miami Heat 116-98 to open the Finals, the first win in a five-game series that delivered the franchise's 17th championship. LeBron James and Anthony Davis led that team under coach Frank Vogel, matching Boston's total and settling, for a moment, basketball's oldest argument about which franchise stands alone at the top.

One Star at a Time

The Lakers have always built around a single face: Elgin Baylor and Jerry West in the 1960s, then Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy under Pat Riley, five championships in nine years. Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant carried three straight titles from 2000 to 2002, and LeBron James carried the last one, Banner 17, in 2020. The February 1, 2025 trade that sent Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first-round pick to Dallas for Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris handed that job to a 27-year-old still building his first full season in Los Angeles.

No LeBron, New Questions

James signed with Philadelphia this summer, closing the era that produced Banner 17. JJ Redick opens his second season as coach with Doncic healthy and without restrictions, general manager Rob Pelinka discussing the roster's direction with reporters, and the regular season set to open October 21 against Golden State after four preseason games. The record sits at 0-0, and the concrete question now is whether Doncic can be the singular star who gets the Lakers back to the Finals, the job James used to hold. History says the franchise has done it before; it has never done it with this particular cast.

When did the Lakers last win a championship?

In 2020, beating Miami in the Finals; Game 1 of that series, a 116-98 win on September 30, tied the franchise with Boston at 17 titles.

Who has replaced LeBron James as the Lakers' top star?

Luka Doncic, acquired from Dallas in the February 1, 2025 trade, enters his first full season in Los Angeles as the team's new centerpiece.

By the Lakers Nightly Desk, written from the club's data and the reports on file, with every name and number checked against them. How the desks work.