One of the biggest stories of this offseason has nothing to do with player movement. It’s Luka Doncic’s determination to get shredded ahead of EuroBasket, where he aims to lead Slovenia to glory. And he wants to return to the NBA in the best shape of his life to help the Lakers climb back to the top.
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Of course, any news about Doncic will automatically have its implication on LeBron James, the man at the Lakers since moving to LA in 2018. He’s also won a ring with them, but at 40 years old, the end is on the horizon.
Bron opted into his $52 million player option earlier this month, but will he stay? Experts keep debating whether he will or, more importantly, whether he should. The amount of work Doncic has put in on his fitness adds further relevance to the question. Austin Rivers feels that it’s time for James to make way.
There have been instances before where Doncic has shed weight in the summer only to return to the NBA overweight. But this time, it’s to prove haters wrong and more…
“This might be the best Luka we’ve ever seen,” Rivers said on the Off Guard podcast. “If I’m the Lakers, man, I’m building around Luka. I would try to move LeBron.”
Rivers acknowledged LeBron’s greatness, of course. After all, the four-time NBA champ finished sixth in the MVP rankings just a few months ago. The problem is that Bron being at the Lakers means he’ll have a lot of the ball, which will undoubtedly chain Doncic.
“Luka looks great, and this is real. This isn’t like the summers before; this isn’t like what we’ve done with Ben Simmons. He [Doncic] looks great. We want the best version of Luka, we want Luka to come back tenfold,” said Rivers.
Doncic recently even made it to to cover of Men’s Health magazine. For someone who was trolled for his weight just a few months back, it’s a huge deal. Lakers fans will now hope that Luka Magic’s off-court transformation elevates his game further, and he puts up an MVP-caliber season.
While Rivers sounds like he has a point, there’s the small issue that LeBron has been looking to hand control of the team off to someone for a few years now. And Luka is the perfect person to do that. The two have also shown that they can work well together, despite the Lakers’ early exit in last year’s playoffs.
What the Lakers do with their two superstars is ultimately their choice. But if Rivers were in charge, he’d look to move on from Bron and assemble a competitive team around Doncic.
