Is it a BIG DEAL that Luka Doncic is looking slimmer after offseason training? 💪 | SportsCenter

Is it a BIG DEAL that Luka Doncic is looking slimmer after offseason training? 💪 | SportsCenter

to the NBA. When the Mavs traded Luca to the Lakers, sources told ESPN Dallas had grown frustrated with their stars lack of discipline when it came to diet and conditioning. There were times Luca looked more dadbod than buff dude no Moss. A story in Men’s Health shows a new slimmer Luca and details his efforts to get there. Dave McMenan has much more on his revenge bod. In the past, it’s been all about basketball workouts to get himself into shape for the basketball season. To me, his regimen this summer was a sign of maturity. He didn’t even touch a basketball for about a month. It gave him his body a chance to really rest and recover. Uh limit the inflammation that he’s experienced from really playing too much basketball quite frankly over the last several years. He wanted to take this moment to change the trajectory of his career. And it should be noted that trajectory took him from Europe back to the United States for the first time in his career where he went on vacation then came back to the US. And this promotional tour is going to end in LA this weekend. And guess what? This weekend the Lakers can offer him a four-year extension worth north of $220 million. Cha-ching. I mean, listen, he’s earned the money. Whether you think his conditioning is good or not, he’s off to a historic start to his career, averaging the sixth most points per game through a player’s first seven seasons in NBA history. The only players who’ve averaged more than Luca through their first seven seasons. Yeah, you’re looking at a whole bunch of Hall of Famers as are Tony and Mike. And they’ve got more in our PTI bonus topic. All right, Will Bon, what does a trim down Luca mean for the Lakers going forward? That’s better. Nobody’s going to argue that Luca needs to be beefed up or go from 265 to 290. Nobody’s going to argue that. He looks great. He looks great. Luca Donic is a wondrous offensive player. He’s a wizard. He’s as great and as complete as almost any offensive player we’ve ever seen play basketball. But he’s not committed to the other end of the game. And the truly great players are. Luca’s not interested in defense. He hasn’t been interested in it. Tony, I vote for MVP. I haven’t put Luca in my top two, and I don’t even think I’ve had him in my top three because he plays half the game. He has not been committed like great players are to playing half the game, the game that’s going to get you a championship usually. So, if he’s committed to that, and we can’t see that by his body, we got to see that in February, April, May, and June. Is he committed to that? I ain’t jumping on this bandwagon again till I see that. Yeah. Um, my feeling is that Luca Donuch is a great and wondrous basketball player and there have been two things that have been said negatively towards him over the past five or six years, however he’s been in the league. One is, as you say, defense, and the other is that people have decided he is out of shape. Although that could be an aesthetic judgment based on what his body looks like. It’s the same with Nola Joic. Nobody says Joic is out of shape, but he doesn’t look sculpted. We are used to look looking at people who look sculpted. Look, um the entire season this year is about in LA is about Luca Donuch. Maybe this will make him a better player. I don’t know if it’ll make him a better player. I’m rooting for him to be the greatest player in the league because I think he has that kind of potential. But what you say is also true. Is it going to help him on defense as well? It might help him on defense as well if his attitude says now I’m going to show you that I’m the best player in the world on defense and I look like this. This is how you want me to look. So get out of my way cuz I’m great. So we’ll see. I don’t you know I I’m I’m much like you. I’m not as skeptical as you are. But I think the proof is down the road. It’s not just posing for a magazine cover. It’s not. No. That’s right. And remember his own coach JJ Reick at the end of the year talked about getting in shape in some sort of general way. We all know where that was going. But defense, come on now. I mean, that’s how we judge ultimately the greatest players, whether they can at least be average. Can they be serviceable there? Luca hasn’t even be interested. The play goes the other way. He’s doing this at the officials. That ain’t gonna cut it. and particularly in LA where there are expectations and where he seems like you said Tony to have the talent. That’s it. We’re done. Back to you. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

SportsCenter talks about the impact of Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic’s offseason training.

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