Luka Doncic Discussion: "Championship Shape"?

Genetics, and A LOT of help…

 

Regarding Luka being “past his prime” already: He never completely recovered from his injury.
If healthy, and with a better fitting supporting cast, next season, he will shine like the dude who took the Mavs to the Finals.
I’m sure Denver fans couldn’t care less that the Joker isn’t ripped.

 

if this was luka playing injured/out of shape, then i can't wait to see what he's going to do when healthy and hopefully in better shape

 

yeah, there were persistent complaints about his physical appearance/condition in 23-24, which was the best year of his already outstanding career.

he's not going to come back looking like he did as a rookie, folks. but he was at his best when he looked more like this than that, tbh. i just hope he drops a few pounds and gets that calf right for good.

 

Luka before and now is pretty extreme. Most players bulk up after joining the league, Luka is probably the few that bulked up in fat. You always see players in their HS or college days looking skinny and then gaining muscle mass. Luka tbh just looks like he just gained mass.

 

i think he was the best player in the nba in 2024, when he was probably about 10lbs lighter.

 

bubble luka was the most athletic i've ever seen him. i remember he was just straight up out hustling guys

not gonna happen anymore, but luka's also shown he doesn't need to be in peak athletic shape to be dominant either. overcoming that lingering calf injury is more important than anything

 

After Kobe retired, we would have had a 10 year gap in the wilderness if it wasn’t for LeBron. Those youth teams with draft picks that never panned out, Lonzo, DLO, Randle, Ingram - we would have never really been much of a team.

We got blessed that we got Luka to hold off that dark period again.

 

Luka didn't look like he was even close to being back to himself. Impossible to make any accurate assessment but I found it pretty amazing he could do what he did under the circumstances. I'm pretty optimistic we have good things to come. Meanwhile I see kayaking in my future.

 

Indeed we did get lucky and hold off the dark period by getting Luka. We had to wait a couple years between Kobe and Bron, and even before that Kobe's last few years were a struggle. We already have our torchbearer and we just made the playoffs, things are definitely good. We also still have to resign Luka but I think we will. He seems loyal and he knows hes lucky to be a Laker and hopefully that's motivation for him to bring his best. I'm excited for us to build around him and get his next co-star.

 

Yeah. I was discussing this a bit with friends. Luka probably doesn't come back when he did if he wasn't traded.

I'm honestly not worried about him. Can't imagine a guy as competitive as he is doesn't come out with a vengeance next year after a full year of the talking heads calling him fat.

 

If he stays on his current trajectory, he’s out of the league by the time he reaches 32.

I think we have 6 years with lots of missed games, not 10 years unfortunately.

And of course, that is completely up to him. He can turn that around if he wants.

 

Luka is not going anywhere

 

Porcine 77 baby!

 

Some really strange takes hinting as if we lost the series because of Luka. We most certainly did not.

 

F

 

yeah, this thread and the whole forum regarding this are weird to me. like, yeah, they went after him some on defense. let's not get carried away. it was everyone but lebron and luka playing two to three notches below their capabilities/what they've shown previously (rui showed up a couple times, i guess) that lost the series.

well, that and just structural issues we knew existed since the trade.