When the Dallas Mavericks traded superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the main sources of frustration regarded his weight and conditioning. The Mavericks felt Doncic was out of shape and were thus concerned about how his body would hold up over time, despite him playing big minutes in leading them to the NBA Finals.
Luka apparently took that personally as he used this offseason to completely transform his body and is noticeably thinner now than he was when the season ended. Being in elite shape is also something Lakers head coach JJ Redick preached to the entire team after their playoff loss and Doncic is setting the example.
The superstar is currently on a Jordan Brand tour with the first stop being in the Big Apple, where he attended a New York Yankees game and met fellow Jordan Brand athlete Aaron Judge. During the game, he would join the Yankees broadcast team of Michael Kay and David Cone where he revealed that a big reason for his body transformation was that he felt he needed a fresh start, via YES Network:
“I just think I needed a fresh start, after everything that happened. I obviously had a little more time than last year so I kinda left basketball for one month, focused on other things. So it was a really good fresh and healthy start for me.”
Doncic has been candid in the past about how difficult this trade was as he didn’t want to leave the Mavericks and thought he would play his entire career in Dallas. But he has since embraced the move and is truly locked in with the Lakers as the face of the franchise. This is a new chapter of his career and he wanted to make some changes as this new era begins.
There is no questioning Luka’s skill level as he is clearly one of the best players in the NBA today and now with this new body and level of conditioning he can somehow take his game to an even higher level, which is scary for the rest of the league.
Lakers’ Luka Doncic emphasizes need to continue taking care of his body
Getting into this level of conditioning is obviously a great first step for Luka Doncic and he is clearly much slimmer than he has ever been since entering the NBA. But the Lakers’ superstar understands that he can’t let this work go to waste and must keep going otherwise this offseason will have been for nothing.
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