Kobe Bryant’s Ex-Teammate Excited About Luka Doncic-Led Lakers: “Something Different About This Team”

Derek Fisher is optimistic about Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers heading into the new season.

Kobe Bryant’s Ex-Teammate Excited About Luka Doncic-Led Lakers: “Something Different About This Team”

Derek Fisher and Luka Doncic (Image credits - ESPN)

The Los Angeles Lakers have been through different eras throughout their history. Heading into the 2026-27 campaign, they are entering a new era with Luka Doncic at the helm.

LeBron James was the face of the esteemed franchise for eight years after joining them in 2018. After his departure following the 2025-26 campaign, Doncic took over the team.

Traded from the Dallas Mavericks at the trade deadline last year, Doncic was the ideal superstar talent to kickstart the post-James era. After missing out on the entire playoffs last season, Doncic will be eager to make a mark next season.

However, there is more to the Lakers than just Doncic. The Lakers are coming off an eventful offseason. They saw a change in ownership and made several roster changes.

Their new-look roster has generated mixed reactions across the NBA world. With the squad built around Luka Doncic, some believe that they are resemblant to the 2024 Mavs team that Doncic led to the NBA Finals, while some were left unimpressed and believe that they are overrated.

Former Lakers champion Derek Fisher believes that the current roster has a different feel to it and sees a confidence in it that he did not see before.

The confidence level in each individual guy told me a lot about how they’re interacting amongst themselves. Superstars automatically create walls. The Lakers look like a team. The walls came down. More guys can go out there and flow and hoop. It wasn’t that LeBron was telling them not to but there’s just more comfort level doing it.

Derek Fisher on 97.1 The Fan

Derek Fisher has been a part of great teams and knows what it takes to lift a championship. As a result, his optimism is very high after watching their first preseason game on Monday night.

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Luka Doncic and the Lakers take out the Sacramento Kings in their first preseason game

History suggests that whenever LeBron James leaves a team, it becomes subpar for the next few years. However, things will be different for the Lakers with Luka Doncic.

After returning from Slovenia fitter than ever, the Slovenian guard has his eyes set on a memorable season with the Lakers. After losing in the first round of the playoffs in 2025 and missing the entire playoffs this year, Doncic has made his intentions clear that his goal is to win the championship next year.

With just two weeks to go for the new season, Doncic and the Lakers got their preseason underway against the Sacramento Kings at the Golden 1 Center on Monday night. The Lakers won convincingly, 127-103, as their star guard led the scorers with 21 points in just 16 minutes. They were solid on both ends of the floor, and everyone looked comfortable in their roles.

After that performance, Fisher believes that not playing alongside someone like James has allowed the players to play with more freedom. Another factor is that most players are new to the team but have already developed some team chemistry after having a four-day training camp in Slovenia.

Luka Doncic feels the Lakers still have a lot more improvements to make

There is little to no doubt that Luka Doncic is one of the greatest offensive players the league has ever seen. His ability to score and to pass the ball is second to none. Last season, he won the scoring title as he averaged 33.5 points per game.

'Skinny' Luka Doncic
Luka Doncic (Image via Polymarket Hoops/X)

With Doncic being the focal point of the team, everything revolves around him. After their promising start to preseason, he revealed that there is still a lot of work to be done and is happy with the new-look team.

It’s not just about me. Fitting standards is just not about me but how the team feels playing together. I think for the 4-5 practices , I think today we showed we can play really good. Especially going from defense to offense. But I feel like we have so much more improvement left that I’m very happy to be a part of this team.

Luka Doncic in his press conference

The Lakers are not seen as favorites to win it all next year. The Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs are expected to be the two best teams in a stacked Western Conference next season. But with Luka Doncic fit and healthy, he will be looking to pull off something special alongside his new teammates.

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