Luka Doncic came to the Los Angeles Lakers back in February with both shock and excitement. It was one of the craziest trades in the history of sports, breathing life into the Lakers organization and refreshing their chance to be competitive for the next decade. But with the way the Dallas Mavericks spoke about Doncic in the wake of the trade, it also came with question marks.
According to rumors surrounding the trade, there was a feeling that Luka was out of shape and not willing to put in the effort to change that. That, combined with the calf strain he has suffered and the lack of elite defense, made Harrison feel that Doncic was not going to be able to keep Dallas competitive consistently.
And in Doncic’s first few months with the Lakers, conditioning did appear to be an issue. He looked slower than normal when the playoffs came around and was visibly gassed for much of their five game series against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
But the offseason has shown a different side to Doncic. He appears to be slimmed down, working hard on his body and his conditioning, according to Dan Woike of The Athletic:
Two, Dončić has been incredibly committed to his conditioning this offseason. He’s dropped significant weight and is working on strict diet and cardio training, according to a source with knowledge of the plan. In a shift from his normal offseason, he spent a month away from on-court work to focus more on his body. Dončić has looked visibly slimmer in photos and is now back working out with Slovenia readying for EuroBasket competition later this summer.
The ability to play for the Slovenian National Team in any competition is certainly going to be a motivating factor for him, but it’s possible that there is a revenge element at play with Dallas. It probably wasn’t easy for Doncic to hear the reports coming out of Harrison and that organization after the trade, and it would certainly be fun to prove them wrong in his first full season in L.A.
Of course, perhaps the plan was always to get in the best shape of his life after missing a large chunk of the 2024-25 season with a calf strain. And what he gave L.A. after the trade was simply a stopgap to get to the offseason workout program.
Lakers’ LeBron James works out for first time since knee injury
While Lakers star LeBron James has yet to announce it officially, all expectations are that he will be returning for a 23rd season in the NBA and eighth in the purple and gold.
Before making it official though, James has been focused on getting his body back to 100% health. Despite turning 40 last December, LeBron had another All-NBA season in which he played 70 games for the Lakers in 2024-25. Unfortunately, on the night L.A. was eliminated from the playoffs, James suffered a significant knee injury that wound up being diagnosed as a sprained MCL.
An injury of that magnitude typically requires at least a couple months of rehab and recovery, and it appears that LeBron is right on schedule. He took to Instagram on Monday to post a video of his first on-court workout just eight weeks after suffering the injury.
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