The Mavericks want Luka Doncic to change.
Despite the guard making his fourth straight All-NBA first team appearance and being one of the top MVP candidates at different points of the season, the Dallas Mavericks staff wants Doncic to lose weight and be in better condition coming into the 2023-24 season, according to The Athletic’s Tim Cato.
Cato wrote the Mavericks asked Doncic to “decrease his preferred playing weight this summer.”
The 24-year-old superstar has been much maligned for coming into seasons seemingly out of shape in recent years.
After playing for the Slovenian national team in the Tokyo Olympics back in 2021, Doncic reportedly showed up to training camp weighing 260 pounds, a far cry from the 230 pounds that is his preferred playing weight.
With the FIBA Basketball World Cup approaching and Doncic set to play for his home country once again, Cato believes the tournament won’t leave the guard out of shape come training camp.
“I absolutely believe he’ll start next season looking as good as he’s ever been,” Cato wrote. “Keeping that up for an entire season is the hard part. I believe he can, but it won’t be shown in the number of stairs run, or weights and bars pressed this summer. It’ll be the quiet, unsung maintenance of those newfound habits when the grind of the sport’s long season is most taxing.
Based on his appearance on social media soon after the season, Doncic appeared to be already taking steps toward slimming down, posting videos of him running stairs.
No matter what his weight, Doncic has consistently proven he can dominate the game in ways that few who have ever played the game could.
During the 2022-23 season, Doncic averaged 32.4 points, 8.6 rebounds, 8.0 assists, and 1.4 steals en route to his fourth straight All-Star Game selection and All-NBA appearance.
Though they finsihed outside of the playoffs last season, the Mavericks have shown they can be a force to be reckoned with in the West with Doncic at the helm, making it to the Western Conference Finals back in 2022.
But with a depleted supporting cast after the Kyrie Irving trade a season ago, Dallas’ championship window will be predicated on Doncic’s conditioning and ability to stay on the floor throughout the year.
