The Los Angeles Lakers‘ fourth exhibition game of the 2025-26 NBA season will be on Tuesday when they take on the Phoenix Suns in Arizona. Fans there will get a treat, as they will get to see Luka Doncic make his preseason debut.
He had been held out of the Lakers’ first preseason games, presumably as a load management precaution after he took part in EuroBasket 2025 over the summer. But he will participate on Tuesday night, and he will also play in one of the team’s two remaining preseason contests afterward.
Via ESPN:
“Luka Doncic will make his preseason debut when the Los Angeles Lakers play on the road Tuesday against the Phoenix Suns, coach JJ Redick said,” wrote Dave McMenamin.
“… After the Suns game, the Lakers finish out their six-game preseason slate with a game in Las Vegas against Doncic’s former team, the Dallas Mavericks, on Wednesday and a home game against the Sacramento Kings on Friday.
“Redick said that Doncic would also play in either the Mavs or Kings game. It stands to reason that the Kings game would be more likely, considering the Mavs game falls on the second night of a back-to-back.”
Another important L.A. player will also make his preseason debut on Tuesday according to Redick.
“Marcus Smart, who has been out for the first three preseason games because of Achilles tendinopathy, also will make his Lakers debut in Phoenix, according to Redick.”
Doncic dropped lots of weight and got into fantastic shape over the summer, and it showed during EuroBasket 2025, as he averaged 34.7 points, 8.6 rebounds and 7.1 assists a game during the tournament. He put up 28.2 points, 8.1 rebounds and 7.5 assists a game last season after the Mavs traded him to the Lakers in February.
Smart was supposed to play on Sunday night, but he was held out once again after recently dealing with Achilles tendinopathy. He is just three calendar years removed from winning the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award, and he has career averages of 10.6 points, 4.6 assists and 1.6 steals a game.
Los Angeles will begin its regular-season schedule one week from Tuesday when it hosts the Golden State Warriors at Crypto.com Arena.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Huge preseason updates for Luka Doncic, Marcus Smart revealed
