Luka Doncic is coming off a humbling season after unexpectedly getting traded from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers.
In the aftermath of the blockbuster deal, the Mavericks made it clear that they didn’t think Luka’s work ethic and conditioning were good enough to build around him long-term.
Then after a first-round playoff exit, Doncic was again the subject of a lot of scrutiny for his poor defense and conditioning against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
It appears Doncic took all of that criticism to heart as he showed up to Real Madrid’s basketball game on Sunday and looked like he was in great shape. Reports then came out from Slovenia that Doncic is using this offseason to transform his body and get in better shape.
One Lakers player who knows Luka better than anyone is Markieff Morris after playing with him in Dallas and coming over in the trade. Morris appeared on ESPN’s First Take on Monday morning and defended Doncic while reacting to the photos that emerged on Sunday:
Doncic is one of the best players in the NBA and that doesn’t happen without a strong work ethic. With him being called into question though, it’s nice to see someone like Morris who was in the gym with Doncic every day this past season come to his defense.
It remains to be seen how Doncic will look when training camp rolls around, but all indications are that he is off to a great start to the summer and should continue improving his conditioning as time goes on.
As if Luka Doncic wasn’t motivated enough going into the offseason, a video recently emerged of 2025 NBA Draft prospects picking between the Lakers star, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Anthony Edwards. All of them had Doncic ranked last, which is certainly recency bias but also the reality of where things stand for the Slovenian guard coming off the season he had.
