Any questions about just how impactful “skinny” Luka Doncic can be were dispelled during EuroBasket, when he led the tournament in scoring at 34.7 points a game, added 8.7 rebounds and 7.1 assists, and lifted Slovenia to the quarterfinals.
It’s hard not to connect this version of Doncic back to the shocking trade from last February when the Dallas Mavericks traded him to the Los Angeles Lakers for a trade package focused around Anthony Davis. Doncic again discussed his shock at the trade, speaking in the Wall Street Journal Magazine for its Fall Men’s Issue.
“I didn’t know how to react, how to act, what to say,” Doncic tells me. “It was a lot of shock. I felt Dallas was my home. I had many friends there. The fans always supported me. I didn’t want to upset Dallas fans. And I didn’t want to upset Laker fans.”
Like the rest of us, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver connected the dots from the trade to Doncic’s conditioning push.
“Putting aside the merits of the trade, you could argue that it was a bit of a kick in the a** to Luka,” says Adam Silver… “He didn’t try to sugarcoat this trade.”
That kick in the a** included the post-trade spin out of Dallas, leaked concerns about Doncic’s health and conditioning. That sparked Doncic’s offseason conditioning program, one that went viral this offseason — and not on accident as Doncic’s team works to control the narrative around him.
“For the first time, I stopped playing basketball for a month,” he says. He says this as if he was deprived of oxygen. Out went the jump shots. In came the resistance bands, dead lifts, dumbbells and agility drills, plus a private chef who got a sweet break from 8 p.m. until noon the next day, as Doncic intermittently fasted. “Pure training and fitness,” Doncic says. “And padel tennis.”
The result of all that work was evident at EuroBasket, and the Lakers are looking forward to it carrying over into the season. Doncic and LeBron James form one of the best, highest IQ duos in the NBA, but how far that (and their supporting cast) can get them in a ridiculously deep Western Conference is up for debate heading into the season.
LeBron praises Doncic in the Wall Street Journal article, which doesn’t break any new ground but does show why this could be an MVP-level season for Doncic in Los Angeles.
Doncic and the Lakers are part of the second game of the NBA Tip-Off opening night on NBC and Peacock on Oct. 21. The Lakers will take on the Golden State Warriors, and while a lot of eyes will be on another LeBron/Stephen Curry showdown, Doncic may be the guy nobody can take their eyes off of.
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