Will Luka ever get in shape? Or is this is who he is

[Apz]

Luka is in shape. Just not up to game shape yet

[Yinwest]

You get in shape to play basketball, you don’t play basketball to get in shape.

[Godymas]

no, he doesn't care about winning a championship

Watch on YouTube

unserious

[SparksAC]

It's pretty sad that Zion has a better chance of getting in shape than Luka.

[Ito]

Or if he’s going to look like that then maybe learn how to use the weight more in your favor instead of just shooting threes..

[DwayneSchintzus]

This is who he is as a player.

The Mavs fans are happy to make excuses for him, and I'm happy to watch.

[CobraCommander]

Or if he’s going to look like that then maybe learn how to use the weight more in your favor instead of just shooting threes..

He takes 10 threes a game and is shooting 32% from 3 and only 41% from the field and 79% from line. I don’t know if it’s because he is out of shape or hurt - but these the worse numbers he has shot in his career. He is still taking 23-24 shots a game so he isn’t hurt enough to defer to other players - he is avg 28 points on 23.5 shots… last year he took 23.5 shots and avg 34 points per game…

Kyrie is shooting 54% - 54% from 3 (64% from 3 on the road) and 85% from the line… and taking 17 shots a game getting 25 ppg- if Luka is truly hurt they should get more shots for Kyrie - cause this man is playing insane- you can’t say Luka needs help when Kyrie balling like this.

15% of the year has passed and something is off about Luka and again I wonder why Kidd isn’t getting Luka to take better shots when the 3 not falling- or getting it to other players - Luka’s assist down tooo- this feels like it’s hero ball or he gunning for the MVP.

And at this point of his career he is better than this. I suspect he is really injured and didn’t turn into OLD harden this summer - I know yall know he was out of shape last year so conditioning isn’t the issue

[CobraCommander]

Luka is in shape. Just not up to game shape yet

He in shape for the avg dude on the street working for Microsoft ? That’s cool lol

[Archx]

no, he doesn't care about winning a championship

Watch on YouTube

unserious

This is actually not a joke but it's been a downhill for Mavs ever since Finley took his beer away in that moment

[JustBuzzin]

I told you guys about Luka. People are now starting to realize I was right.

It had nothing to do with his game. You have to be a leader and he has shown no signs of even being close to that kind person.

It's honestly more disappointing than anything because the talent is there, but the mindset is just not. I feel for Dallas fans because this dude could be so much better if he had it mentally.

[dirkforpres]

If you cant be in shape in your early to mid 20s, its not going to get easier. Its truly a shame, becase it severely limits the ceiling of Dallas when hes this doughy and yet the offense is still so dependent on him creating and him not being a traffic cone on defense.

[kobe_vs_jordan]

I don't think I ever recall so much complaining about the "shape" of a player and his performance that was pretty much dominant from day one in the league and never missed much time due to injuries. Not to mention that he was tied for 2nd in minutes per game last season and averaged 41 minutes in the playoffs while making it to the finals and playing hurt. I'd be more than happy to have "fat" Luka on the Knicks than one of those "hyperathletic" stars that are currently out for a few Months.

But maybe I'm wrong and the talk during the 80s and 90s was if fat Charles Barkley will get finally in shape and stop holding his team back^^.

Prime Harden and he probably gave more effort defensively than Luka.

Don't think anybody taking away from Luka greatness but he has a relative easy path to increasing his ceiling by increasing his cardio endurance.

[jokeboy86]

I think Luka will end up just like Shaq and Harden in that he's so good that there really isnt any incentive to get in better shape. Kobe said it constantly that if Shaq was motivated constantly to be in the best shape every year that they could've been even better. If Shaq cared like that and worked on his weaknesses and flaws he arguably could've been the greatest of all time rather than just top 10 of all time. I think if Luka treated the off season like Jordan, Kobe, Lebron(and add Steph) he could unanimously be the league's best player rather than vying for the spot with 3 other players every year

[Woodsanity]

I wasnt kidding when I said he should learn from Jokic. Waste of potential.

[maverick_41]

Chubby players with strong base (Luka, Nikola) never get hurt. Please keep on your beer diet, guys.

[dantas]

I don't think Doncic is out of shape, it's just that the league is competitive and there are many players who take better care of themselves than he does.

It's been reported that Lebron invests 1.5 million dollars a year in his physique (cryotherapy, red light therapy, hyperbaric chamber, etc.). This is the kind of investment that Doncic probably doesn't make. The impression is that Doncic has average fitness and is in the middle of some top athletes.

[Drakeem]

I told you guys about Luka. People are now starting to realize I was right.

It had nothing to do with his game. You have to be a leader and he has shown no signs of even being close to that kind person.

It's honestly more disappointing than anything because the talent is there, but the mindset is just not. I feel for Dallas fans because this dude could be so much better if he had it mentally.

"Feel for Dallas fans" is hilarious.

They just made the NBA Finals. They've already experienced more success with Luka than some franchises have in their whole team history (WCF and Finals appearances). Sure, he could be better and I'm sure fans are a little ticked off he's not taking all of this more seriously but I'm not feeling sorry for them LOL.

[CobraCommander]

I don't think Doncic is out of shape, it's just that the league is competitive and there are many players who take better care of themselves than he does.

It's been reported that Lebron invests 1.5 million dollars a year in his physique (cryotherapy, red light therapy, hyperbaric chamber, etc.). This is the kind of investment that Doncic probably doesn't make. The impression is that Doncic has average fitness and is in the middle of some top athletes.

With all due respect, this is the craziest take ever. You are saying Luka is not out of shape, just the other guys are in better shape?

Here is what I am saying- not to insult you but this is the gist of everyone’s comments and overall disappointment with Luka’s conditioning-

Luka has the talent to be the greatest ever but because of his attitude, he will be rich, fun to watch, but never achieve what is his potential.

Example:

What if Usain Bolt didn’t work out but could run fast enough to be a top 10 sprinter today BUT if he worked out he could be the fastest ever and the greatest of all time- would it be disappointing that a guy with all that god given gifts didn’t maximize them? Obviously-

But here is the truth and a difference between a out of shape sprinter and a basketball player like Luka.

The sprinter hurts himself and limits his individual success-


Luka on the other hand hurts himself and the team being out of shape and never hitting his potential.

No one takes away from Luka’s talent - talent level to be the goat - attitude of draymond and work ethic of harden won’t get you into the pantheon of the greats that Luka could be mentioned with

[Mephariel]

You forgot to mention that this specific Real Madrid team wouldn't even sniff the playoffs at that time. 5-6 potential starters were out due to injuries (Lull included) and everyone thought it's over. Then Luka took over the team for few months until everyone got back and they won.

Prior to that, he was still a baby with NT at 18yo and the team hasn't lost a single game in that tournament.

He was also able to carry guys like Powell, Bullock, Wood, etc.. plus at least 3 Gleague guys to 4th standings in a tough Western conference before Mavs blew it up with the Kyrie trade. Dude had worse talented teams in the past than Jokic has right now.

Mavs record with Luka is close to 60% and record without is 40%. He's also most responsible for 1/3 of all western conference finals in Mavs history.

His start of this season is a huge puzzle, i'll admit that, but it's like you just erased what he's done in previous years. He literally single handedly put Mavs back on the map when their only hope for the future was DSJ lol...

He is great, I am not saying he isn't, but he doesn't carry himself as all time great worker, he only has the ego. Also, when he won MVP and Euroleague, he was Reals best player, but he still averaged 15.5 points per game, he wasn't who he is now.

I don't know, he was already very close to the championship, so maybe he is there as a leader and superstar player, but Harden always got critique for his style and lazy lifestyle and play on defense, and people dont have problem crapping on Harden because Harden is simply disliked by most. Luka is similar player and person, he i gettting there, but he is still international golden boy and people are too dismissal of his obvious flaws.
Jokic was also overweight, dude dedicated entire pandemic to get in best shape ever and now he is top 10 of all time.

He has his quirks, and can be a chore to watch with his complaining, but there is one simple fact about him, it is extremely rare for him to underachieve, in his 7 seasons, he always outperformed his roster's potential, same in Euroleague, Eurobasket and Olympics, with one exception, Eurobasket quarter finals against Poland, and both Giannis and Jokic underacheived in the very same tournament.
It shouldn't have been expected from him to perform any better than he did in any tournament.

He's playing his worst basketball right now, but it's 11 games into the season, let's give the guy the benefit of the doubt, he has never shown himself to not be up to task...

He has never shown himself to be up to task on defense. I think offensively, he will always be a juggernaut. He will always raise the floor of a team because of this. But defense wins championships, and he needs to lead in that area by example.

[DCasey91]

Some of this is hyperbole some of this true.

But I will say Luka hasn't stopped since he came into the league. Health wise and durability along with responsibility it's quite literally Lebron age for age.

Dude qualified Slovenia got them into medal contention and a medal game in Tokyo. That was 4 years ago...

He just got to the Finals last playoffs while being injured (he copped something when he collided with Mcdaniels)

Don't know if people care to realise but he got hit in the same area in practise last month. A bruised knee is a TBA like injury, dependent on the swelling, treatment, response etc. If anyone here plays sports you know that injury sucks mega doo doo. They the players have the best stuff at their disposal, still a bruised knee sucks d*ck to play on even with strapping and all the rest of it.

At the start of the last game it was mentioned he had some groin issue still dropped 30/8 and change...

Maybe just maybe it has something to do with it. Lead the league in scoring last year

It's very early into the season so ill give the benefit of the doubt

If by being results and objective orientated then he's tracking along fine. He's 25

I mean there's a number of teams he would be a champ by now but that's more to do with the FO.

Watch by mid way January/Feb this thread will get bumped and Luka is doing Luka things again (Touch wood for no injury).