A story where tennis aesthetics meet basketball ambition: Maria Sharapova’s elite Manhattan Beach estate has changed hands, and the Pacific-view address now belongs to Luka Dončić — the star around whom the Los Angeles Lakers are building their future. The real-estate deal says as much about both athletes’ priorities as their game-winners and match points.
Why Sharapova Let Go of Her "Dream Home"
In the summer, Maria chose to part with her California asset to spend more time in Europe with her fiancé Alexander Gilkes and their three-year-old son Theodore. In the United States, the former world No. 1 still has a more intimate home in Florida — roughly 460 m² on Longboat Key near Sarasota. But it was the Manhattan Beach mansion that served as her calling card on the luxury architecture market — a project into which she invested tremendous effort, time, and taste.
Dončić's Contract and Settling the Housing Question
In early August, the 26-year-old point guard signed a three-year, $165 million deal with the Lakers — a move that cemented his status as a franchise player. The logical next step was putting down roots in Los Angeles. By the end of the month, the basketball player’s business manager, Sara-Beth Siger, finalized the purchase; according to the Wall Street Journal, the price was $24.995 million. For a player of Dončić’s caliber, this is not only comfort but also a clear signal to the club and the market: he’s here for the long haul.
The Home Sharapova Poured Part of Her Career Into
The story began in 2012 with the purchase of a plot for $4.1 million. Sharapova built the home from scratch with KAA Design and project lead Grant Kirkpatrick. By the team’s account, Maria was involved “down to the choice of materials and the placement of accents.” Construction finished in 2015, and in 2019 the tennis star showcased the interiors for Architectural Digest’s "Po domam" series. It was more than an investment: the design process became a creative challenge in its own right — executed with the discipline familiar to any multiple Grand Slam champion.
Japanese Minimalism on the Pacific Coast
The three-story home’s architecture nods to Japanese simplicity of form and the idea of “nothing superfluous.” The area is about 800 m², with key details including textured monolithic concrete, expansive panes of glazing, a landscaped garden, and sweeping ocean views that are hard to look away from.
At the entrance sits a quiet courtyard framed by a Japanese pine and a fountain; beyond it, a double-height gallery where concrete walls read like works of art. The layout is organized around daytime scenarios: the kitchen flows into the living room, the living room opens to the veranda, and the pool comes right up to the sliding doors — a resort effect at home. Five bedrooms are distributed so that private zones don’t clash with the shared spaces. The basement is an entertainment zone: there’s a two-lane bowling alley. Quite possibly, Luka will decompress there in the offseason with teammates — maybe even with LeBron.
The Scoreboard: Emotion vs. Arithmetic
On paper, the property sold for nearly six times the land price of thirteen years ago. In reality, profit is a balance of inflation, design and construction costs, and years of maintenance. For Sharapova, this is the closing of a major personal project. For the buyer, it’s the rational side of image: a top high-end residence befits the status of a star on a title contender.
What This Says About Dončić's and the Lakers' Plans
The move tidies up daily life and sharpens the focus on basketball: training camp, preseason, fitting into the systems — all of it is easier when home is close to the practice facility and the arena. Over the offseason, Luka noticeably improved his conditioning: the extra work on his body and decision-making speed should translate into efficiency in pick-and-rolls, better accuracy from beyond the arc, and higher-quality shot creation for teammates. If the new home is a metaphor for stability, it’s also a marker of long-term leadership for the Lakers: the franchise sees Dončić as the face of the project for years ahead.
Final Score: A Win for Design and Strategy
A mansion born of a tennis champion’s perfectionism is becoming a basketball superstar’s base. The same address has housed two careers — different sports, similar demands for detail. Sharapova carefully closed an important chapter, and Dončić opened a new one — as a pillar of building the Lakers’ future. In this story, architecture and sport played on the same team.
