Luka Doncic, at age 23, is already one of the top players in the world. A three-time First Team All-NBA player (including this past season), perennial MVP candidate (and favorite for next season), and best pick-and-roll ball handler in the league.
The one knock on Doncic? His conditioning. Something even he has admitted needed to be better.
This offseason conditioning has been more of a focus, one of his Slovenian trainers, Anze Macek, told SportKlub Slovenija (hat tip to BasketNews.com).“Shortly after the end of the season, he contacted me and said that he wanted to start fitness training immediately. Together with Goran Dragic, they worked for three weeks,” Macek said... “The national team action followed. When he went on vacation, he asked me for a work plan.”
“He remains active,” he said. “I am in contact with him almost on a daily basis. He keeps his shape. He will improve everything during the national team practices where he will prepare with maximum effort.”
In photos this summer, Doncic has appeared thinner and more in shape, although offseason workout photos/videos/Instagram stories are notoriously edited and not always an accurate representation. Macek later said that the criticism of his conditioning drove Doncic this offseason.
He’s also around the age (23 and entering his fifth NBA season) where a lot of NBA players start to take their conditioning more seriously. From the time they were playing high school and AAU, many NBA players could roll out of bed, hit the gym a little, and be better than everyone regardless of what they ate or drank. Doncic did the same thing in Europe. But after a few years in the league, players realize if they want to extend their careers for as long as they can, if they’re going to reach the highest levels of the sport, they have to take better care of their bodies. Around Doncic’s age, players stop grabbing a pizza for dinner and start focusing on healthy meals, adhere to the training programs teams have given them, and get serious. It sounds as if Doncic is there.
Which is bad news for the rest of the league.