All eyes are on Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers heading into the new NBA season, and for good reason. Nobody could have predicted that Luka would be anything but a Mav for life. But after the shocking February trade that sent him to Hollywood, he’s now signed an extension, ostensibly making him the face of the team going forward.
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The fit between Luka and his new teammate LeBron James is especially tantalizing for Lakers fans. The command each of them has over the court and their extremely high basketball intellect makes this one of the highest ceiling pairings in the NBA, even as LeBron is about to enter Year 23 in the league.
Luka and LeBron needed a little bit of time to work the kinks out after coming together last year, but the results were still undeniable, as the Lakers went 15-8 when they both took the court. This year they actually have a center to play with after the team signed Deandre Ayton, but the most dramatic difference is the way that Luka got in shape over the summer, even gracing the cover of Men’s Health at one point.
At yesterday’s Lakers media day, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin asked Luka, “I heard that this summer when you were working on your body, you didn’t even play any basketball for like a month or so. What was that like to remove that from the equation and just work on your fitness without basketball being there daily?”
“It was hard,” Luka said, and though he admitted to getting some shots up at the court he has at his house. “I didn’t practice basketball. It was hard, I’m a very competitive guy, I like to play basketball, I like to play 5-on-5, 4-on-4, 3-on-3, whatever it is. It was hard, but at the same point, it was kind of fun,” the Slovenian star added.
Following last season’s first-round exit against the Timberwolves, Lakers head coach JJ Redick placed an emphasis on the Lakers improving their fitness and endurance as a team. It seems like Luka has taken that to heart, as he averaged over 34 points per game for Team Slovenia in the recent EuroBasket tournament.
The Mavericks likely lit a fire under Luka by intimating in the wake of February’s trade that his weight and unhealthy lifestyle contributed to their decision to move him. That, combined with Redick’s words and the opportunity to prove himself to a new team and fanbase, should worry the rest of the West.
If Luka can keep the weight off and play like he did in EuroBasket, the Lakers are going to be a team to be reckoned with, especially now that he’ll have had time to really get on the same page as LeBron. We’ll get to see Luka’s new slim Lakers fit when L.A. opens preseason play on Friday against the Suns.
