There are many interesting titbits about Luka Dončić’s first few months with the LA Lakers in Dave McMenamin’s excellent article about the end of the team’s season.
From an international basketball perspective, the highlight is confirmation that he intends to play for Slovenia in EuroBasket this summer.
Slovenia are in Group D for this competition, alongside hosts Poland, Belgium, Israel, Iceland and France. They begin their group stage games on Thursday 28 August, one day after Groups A and B (the latter including Great Britain) get the tournament underway.
If Dončić does participate, all eyes will be on his conditioning when he gets there.
Lakers Head Coach JJ Redick’s statement on Thursday that “We have to get in championship shape” was considered a barb towards Dončić and there’s no denying that the Slovenian looked laboured at times during the play-off series against the Timberwolves. It’s difficult to know how much that can be put down to a knock-on effect of the the strained left calf injury that kept him off the court for five weeks.
What we do all know is that the media microscope he will be under in LA is very different to what he has experienced previously in Dallas. Whilst it’s not exactly New York, Dončić needs to show to his new(ish) team that he is fully committed to bringing another championship to the city, either before LeBron James retires or as the person to carry on his mantel when the GOAT goes out to grazing.
McMenamin notes that:
“He’ll be accompanied by members of his “body team” — Slovenian national team strength coach Anže Maček and physiotherapist Javier Barrio Calvo — throughout the offseason”
That sounds like a positive development, and also the starting point for many a joke depending on how harsh you wish to be.
From Deep UK 
Leave a comment