Several key figures of the Dallas Mavericks have reached out to Luka Doncic about decreasing his preferred playing weight this offseason, sources told Tim Cato of The Athletic.
Doncic has been facing weight problems and conditioning for the past few years wherein many connect these to his on-court defensive struggles and issues. In the previous 2022-23 season, he was even heckled by Atlanta Hawks fans, showering him with “You are fat!” chants when he and the Mavericks played against the club within the State Farm Arena.
Prior to the 2021-22 season, fresh from his Olympic campaign for Slovenia, it was reported by ESPN’s Tim MacMahon that Doncic entered the training camp weighing more than 260 pounds for the second consecutive year – contrasting his ideal weight of 230 pounds. As such, the superstar phenom went on to acknowledge that he has to get better in shape.
“I had a long summer,” Doncic said back in 2021. “I had the Olympics, took three weeks off, and I relaxed a little bit. Maybe too much. I’ve just got to get back on track.”
Doncic is included in Slovenia’s preliminary pool of players who will participate in the nation’s FIBA Basketball World Cup rally this year from Aug. 25 to Sept. 10.
He averaged a career-best 32.4 points and 49.6 percent field shooting to go with 8.6 boards, 8.0 dimes, and 1.4 steals for 66 games of play last 2022-23 NBA regular season. Amid another individual brilliance en route to capturing his fourth All-NBA honor, he and the Mavericks suffered from a hellish campaign as they unexpectedly failed to reach the postseason arena.
Doncic and Dallas got high hopes entering the 2023-24 season as they were able to carve a productive summer of retaining Kyrie Irving, acquiring Grant Williams and Seth Curry via trades, as well as drafting promising Duke big man Dereck Lively II.
