Skinny Luka incoming

[Johnny Firpo]

Well he was in the sun more. Beyond that he might be holding some more water. It's hard to tell from the photos. Either way the biggest jump he had was from 2019 when he was fat fat to 2020. And his defensive stats blew up. If he's put a few back on, I don't think that's been critical.

Pal, I don't want to be nitpicky and argue about Jokic in a Doncic's thread, I'm only pointing at it as an analogy.

You are totally right: his turning point was losing significant weight in the off-season prior to his first MVP.
But, since then, he has been bigger every season (more muscular, mainly, but he carries more fat too) and that's also very noticeable.
You can search for more photos.

Luka's style of playing, IMHO, is pretty similar (weird start-stop timing, getting defenders off-balance, bully-ball) to Jokic's.
We'll see how this physique suits him. I'm confident he will gain weight during the season, though. Under his trainers and nutritionist supervision, not by eating junk food and having a drinking problem lol.

They may very well come to the conclusion that he needs back a little bit of the weight, but if he keeps his high protein diet and weight training regimen, most of that weight will be muscle. Hopefully it really clicked for him finally!

[dhsilv2]

Well he was in the sun more. Beyond that he might be holding some more water. It's hard to tell from the photos. Either way the biggest jump he had was from 2019 when he was fat fat to 2020. And his defensive stats blew up. If he's put a few back on, I don't think that's been critical.

Pal, I don't want to be nitpicky and argue about Jokic in a Doncic's thread, I'm only pointing at it as an analogy.

You are totally right: his turning point was losing significant weight in the off-season prior to his first MVP.
But, since then, he has been bigger every season (more muscular, mainly, but he carries more fat too) and that's also very noticeable.
You can search for more photos.

Luka's style of playing, IMHO, is pretty similar (weird start-stop timing, getting defenders off-balance, bully-ball) to Jokic's.

We'll see how this physique suits him. I'm confident he will gain weight during the season, though. Under his trainers and nutritionist supervision, not by eating junk food and having a drinking problem lol.

That photo shows a guy who appears to be holding more water and a bit more body fat. There's no real signs he add more muscle. Jokic also hasn't really improved physically in any meaningful measure in recent years. He actually struggled a bit with defense last year and likely could have benefited from being lighter.

The thing with Jokic and Luka is they're naturally strong and they have strong basis. Sure if they lost a lot of muscle in their lower bodies, it might be a problem. But that's just not going to happen unless they start ultra marathon training. They don't need the size to move NBA players. The guys they're going against just aren't very strong to start with. Now there might be a match up where it hurts. Leonard is pretty strong so perhaps Luka suffers in the first quarter a bit more with him. By the 4th the lighter, leaner and more energetic Luka will be better off anyway.

[Rubios]

That photo shows a guy who appears to be holding more water and a bit more body fat. There's no real signs he add more muscle. Jokic also hasn't really improved physically in any meaningful measure in recent years. He actually struggled a bit with defense last year and likely could have benefited from being lighter.

The thing with Jokic and Luka is they're naturally strong and they have strong basis. Sure if they lost a lot of muscle in their lower bodies, it might be a problem. But that's just not going to happen unless they start ultra marathon training. They don't need the size to move NBA players. The guys they're going against just aren't very strong to start with. Now there might be a match up where it hurts. Leonard is pretty strong so perhaps Luka suffers in the first quarter a bit more with him. By the 4th the lighter, leaner and more energetic Luka will be better off anyway.

I hope you're right. And you certainly could be.

Since gaining size after his first MVP, Jokic is catching more rebounds and scoring more and with better efficiency.
Does the body composition play a factor or has he simply got better? I don't know. I can't.

[dhsilv2]

That photo shows a guy who appears to be holding more water and a bit more body fat. There's no real signs he add more muscle. Jokic also hasn't really improved physically in any meaningful measure in recent years. He actually struggled a bit with defense last year and likely could have benefited from being lighter.

The thing with Jokic and Luka is they're naturally strong and they have strong basis. Sure if they lost a lot of muscle in their lower bodies, it might be a problem. But that's just not going to happen unless they start ultra marathon training. They don't need the size to move NBA players. The guys they're going against just aren't very strong to start with. Now there might be a match up where it hurts. Leonard is pretty strong so perhaps Luka suffers in the first quarter a bit more with him. By the 4th the lighter, leaner and more energetic Luka will be better off anyway.

I hope you're right. And you certainly could be.

Since gaining size after his first MVP, Jokic is catching more rebounds and scoring more and with better efficiency.
Does the body composition play a factor or has he simply got better? I don't know. I can't.

It's always hard to tell 100% on anything. But I'm 100% sure that Jokic's 3 point shooting last year wasn't a result of more or less muscle/body fat. But I can show the math says the extra 1 point per 100 he scored last year can be accounted for with his 3 point shooting and then some. That said Jokic's scoring is also highly based on who's playing too. He score more as his team needs it.

[monopoman]

this is more an indictment on america's food supply than anything. luka always slims down in the summer but gets fat during the season eating all the same junk we eat here in the states

The notion that he is forced to eat the crappiest food here is absurd, that is a problem for someone barely making ends meet. It's not an issue at all if you can afford to hire chefs to cook for you, and could buy whatever food Luka wanted from the healthiest sources.

[Jamaaliver]

Read on Twitter

[Dr Aki]

Read on Twitter

[SlimShady83]

MVP, MVP, MVP

Thank You Nico!
Thank You Nico!
Thank You Nico!

[chilluminati]

Skinny Luka got Nico thinking twice bout dumping her.

Luka needed to lose weight for his sustain. LA will need him to play majority of the season plus for a potential playoff push. Hopefully this takes some of the stress off his lower extremities.

Maybe we'll even get some of these again. His dunks from a few years ago had gusto.

Watch on YouTube

[rockmanslim]

Mission accomplished.

Next mission is to stay healthy. Load manage tf out of his minutes

[JM00n69]

First look at skinny Luka playing limited minutes against Germany in a warm up game. He looked pretty gassed when subbed out after less than 8mins played in the first.

Germany obv the better team and Luka didn't play much so they lost.

Watch on YouTube

[HotRocks34]

Luka warmup dunk. This may have been on Friday.

[og15]

this is more an indictment on america's food supply than anything. luka always slims down in the summer but gets fat during the season eating all the same junk we eat here in the states

The notion that he is forced to eat the crappiest food here is absurd, that is a problem for someone barely making ends meet. It's not an issue at all if you can afford to hire chefs to cook for you, and could buy whatever food Luka wanted from the healthiest sources.

Yea, agree, that's simply not a logical way to look at it.

Low income people can be given the reason of lack of access and cost of high quality and healthy food, but higher income people and definitely someone at Luka's level of wealth can afford high quality and healthy food and even to have all his meals planned and made for him.

The general diet in America is simply not a valid reasoning here. How do you think all of us non millionaires in North America who stay lean and healthy do it?

Read on Twitter

The fact that he has 31lbs to lose and still looks like he's what, like 225, 230? That's kind of crazy though, that would mean when he was with them last he was like 260ish, lol

[nate33]

First look at skinny Luka playing limited minutes against Germany in a warm up game. He looked pretty gassed when subbed out after less than 8mins played in the first.

Germany obv the better team and Luka didn't play much so they lost.

Watch on YouTube

Absolutely embarrassing defensive effort by Luka on nearly every possession. He was blowing coverage on switches, making lazy reach-around attempts at steals rather than moving his feet, he failed to box out the FT shooter when it was his responsibility, and so on.

[UcanUwill]

Absolutely embarrassing defensive effort by Luka on nearly every possession. He was blowing coverage on switches, making lazy reach-around attempts at steals rather than moving his feet, he failed to box out the FT shooter when it was his responsibility, and so on.

Slovenia once just flat out cut ''The Machine'' right after he won NBA championship, I am just saying...

[zimpy27]

First look at skinny Luka playing limited minutes against Germany in a warm up game. He looked pretty gassed when subbed out after less than 8mins played in the first.

Germany obv the better team and Luka didn't play much so they lost.

Watch on YouTube

Absolutely embarrassing defensive effort by Luka on nearly every possession. He was blowing coverage on switches, making lazy reach-around attempts at steals rather than moving his feet, he failed to box out the FT shooter when it was his responsibility, and so on.

It's an exhibition game

[nate33]

First look at skinny Luka playing limited minutes against Germany in a warm up game. He looked pretty gassed when subbed out after less than 8mins played in the first.

Germany obv the better team and Luka didn't play much so they lost.

Watch on YouTube

Absolutely embarrassing defensive effort by Luka on nearly every possession. He was blowing coverage on switches, making lazy reach-around attempts at steals rather than moving his feet, he failed to box out the FT shooter when it was his responsibility, and so on.

It's an exhibition game

Fair. But nevertheless, I was really struck by how bad he was. I'm not expecting him to go all out on defense or anything, but he should be doing the basics like boxing out the free throw shooter and not getting lost on switches.

[Archx]

Absolutely embarrassing defensive effort by Luka on nearly every possession. He was blowing coverage on switches, making lazy reach-around attempts at steals rather than moving his feet, he failed to box out the FT shooter when it was his responsibility, and so on.

It's an exhibition game

Fair. But nevertheless, I was really struck by how bad he was. I'm not expecting him to go all out on defense or anything, but he should be doing the basics like boxing out the free throw shooter and not getting lost on switches.

He also missed 7 FT's and didn't exactly go all out on offense either. First game after a LONG break.

[Bob8]

Absolutely embarrassing defensive effort by Luka on nearly every possession. He was blowing coverage on switches, making lazy reach-around attempts at steals rather than moving his feet, he failed to box out the FT shooter when it was his responsibility, and so on.

It's an exhibition game

Fair. But nevertheless, I was really struck by how bad he was. I'm not expecting him to go all out on defense or anything, but he should be doing the basics like boxing out the free throw shooter and not getting lost on switches.

The only interesting part about your post is, how you don't understand anything here. Luka joined Slovenian team only few days before the game, he was still in LA in the start of August, he never played with half of his teammates before. Him playing D was the last thing this game was about. The only true reason why he played were his Slovenian fans.

It absolutely embarrassing to see your hatred towards Luka.

[MrBigShot]

He looks like he's at the perfect balance between being strong enough to body defenders, but lean enough to be lighter on his feet and more explosive when attacking the rim.

The perfect setup for an MVP caliber season.