Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) warms up prior to the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
The Los Angeles Lakers have been out of the playoffs for a few weeks, but Luka Doncic still had social media buzzing on Sunday when he showed up to Real Madrid’s game and appeared to be in great shape.
Doncic’s body and conditioning was a big topic of conversation this past season as it was the main reason the Dallas Mavericks shockingly decided to trade him to the Lakers. Luka has dealt with some calf injuries in recent years and has struggled to stay in good shape, which also led to some criticism for the Slovenian superstar when he and the rest of the Lakers ran out of gas in the fourth quarters of their first-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
JJ Redick said afterwards that the goal for this offseason is for players to get into “championship shape,” and Doncic seems to be on board with that.
According to Martin Pavcnik of Sportklub, Doncic is staying out of the spotlight for now and is working hard behind the scenes to transform his body:
No public appearance is expected for several weeks. You will also search in vain for clues about sports activities on social networks, and even those close to him have fallen silent at his initiative. But the fact is that he has already started working. It is as if, away from the cameras and attention, he is preparing a sharp response – both to the unfortunate past season, which was marked by a wide range of health problems and an unplanned move from Dallas, and to all the criticism. There was not a few of these, also due to his faltering fitness and allegedly unsportsmanlike life.
In the first phase of the long period between the seasons, Dončić, now without basketball, dedicated himself to transforming his body in Ljubljana, which includes both guided indoor conditioning and a modified diet. The first physical results are already very clearly visible, and the measurement results are also encouraging, but the time for real answers will come under the basket.
The Lakers were eliminated less than a month ago, but Doncic already looks to be making significant progress in his body transformation as was evidenced by how he looked at the Real Madrid game.
Doncic is easily one of the best players on earth but this body transformation may be the final step in taking him over the hump to being perhaps the best player and a future NBA Champion with the Lakers.
With Doncic expected to play for the Slovenian National Team later this summer, it will be interesting to see just how much progress he’s made and how much it affects him on the court.
This isn’t the first report about Luka Doncic’s transformation
All of the reports about Luka Doncic’s offseason have been positive as it recently also came out that the Lakers star is “changing a lot about himself” in order to be the best player he can be.
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