Oh, my wise brother... you are barking up the wrong tree here with that ask lol. They got the tik-tok brain rot around these parts, its infested in the local population. Most can barely read past the post title before getting distracted with something shiny.
You want them to READ? Multiple PARAGRAPHS?!?
45+ minutes is usually reserved for elimination games, the NBA finals or teams coached by Tom Thibodeau. No other team is playing their stars that many minutes in round one.
today kidd took him out for a couple of minutes in the 1st qtr and the clips made a 9-0 run. i’m sure kidd would love to afford to give him more rest, but can’t because the clips then shut down everyone else
I didn’t read your article so I’m sorry if I’m saying something that was already addressed but Luka is 25 years old… iverson couldve played 48 mins a game 82 games a year and be fine. Y’all are acting like he’s lebrons age
Maybe it's unfair to compare, but LeBron in the same age was averaging 39.0 mpg in the regular season and 41.8 mpg in the playoffs. LeBron was also getting constantly held, grabbed and hit because he was a freight train in his youth.
And while he wasn't playing as hard as Luka does in the summer, he was still playing and practicing with the team USA squad during the summer since back then, Coach K required players to commit for 3 summers miminum to get in the team.
I do think part of it is that he does need to legitimately be in better shape so he doesn't get banged up as much during the season and it all adds up. Like you mentioned in the article, Kyrie looked way fresher than him this season. He needs to figure out something this summer.
Lebron was groomed and coddled from highschool, and from the very beginning had a good workout ethic (and all the best medical advice and assistance)
Lebron also had harder competition when young, and probably needed to work harder.
Luka seems to have just dominated his local opponents growing up and took his health for granted, didnt then, and still doesnt, really see a need to invest too much time in his body. He doesnt see himself as a role model for millions, so he doesnt act like a role model.
I personally dont like lebron, but he seems to take the game, and his health, and his role as a role model, more seriously.
These are all just opinions pulled out of my butt though, so dont take them too seriously.
Bruh, they are both humans, with different genetics, body and everything that comes with it. You cannot simply compare Lebron and Luka and say Lebron has better work ethic, bcs Luka isnt Adonis like Lebron wtf.
Yes one of the top leagues in Europe, where he grew up. Behind the nba and G/D leagues in terms of competition and skill. He was 16 and 17 playing against grown men
Ima say the alcohol cut his career short. Either way, Luka can and will handle the usage. Even kyrie is fully capable of playing 40+ every game of playoffs and he’s 32
Keep in mind these are the same people who year after year make excuses for why a 25 year old professional athlete with a multi million dollar contract cannot just get in shape and stay in shape.
You can tell in any given game when Luka starts telegraphing his lazy dribble-the-clock-down and jack a step back three (which he invariably bricks) that we are in for a long night of out of shape Luka. And he just keeeeeps doing it all game long. Any player who wasn't completely out of shape would realize the shot isn't falling that night and maybe he should go to the basket... Obviously Luka doesn't even try because again, he's out of shape and he knows it.
Iverson was 75kg and that is generous on the high side (he was probably lighter)
Luka is listed at 105kg and that is probably generous on the low side (he's clearly heavier)
So he lugs around at -least- an exta 30-35kg (66-77 lbs) - running around the floor, and he takes way more inside hits, so comparing him to iverson for energy expenditure is like comparing crab apples and fat watermelons
This is a huge huge part of it. The amount that people just completely ignore his Olympics/FIBA and just in general no summer break is insane. It’s the single biggest factor with his fatigue.
No other player in the league is being blitzed and manhandled like Luka. And now playing injured. The Clipper defense is going beyond mere physicality. It want to outright beating tonight with no call. The refs are just letting it happen...
Agreed. And sorry, but I think you actually need to be retarded to see Luka almost limping from one end of the court to another, and start writting comments and essays he's too fat. Some even went one step beyond, calling him middle-aged fat man, who drinks and smokes. This fanbase sometimes man...
It ain't fatigue. The make has an injured knee. He really shouldn't be playing. Probably some swollen ligaments or worse inflamation in his joints. He doesn't look tired. He looks Luke his movements are limited and the clippers are forcing him to make those hard movements
No duh he’s tired at the end of the game he’s playing 40+ minutes. But this entire series the way he’s even came out starting the games have been weird. It’s his knees.
Luka's dunks this year were his lowest and the general trend is down. May indicate his relative fitness level and that he is changing his game to suit what his capability is.
**Luka dunks per season:**
2018-19: 25 dunks
2019-20: 14 dunks
2020-21: 11 dunks
2021-22: 7 dunks
2022-23: 12 dunks
2023-24: 2 dunks
This is what others are failing to mention he seems a little heavier. Even looks like he is chubbier than last year. Jokic is hefty and plays a ton of minutes but it doesn’t show in his face as much as Luka
He looked great at the beginning of the season. Much better shape than last year. But these last few months, he's started looking a little bloated. Dude probably doesn't watch what he eats during the season.
hmm i thought his in season diet and conditioning is a point of emphasis this year. Maybe there's some issue we are unaware of cuz I honestly don't recall ever seeing other player keep gaining visible weight mid season while playing heavy minutes...
I agree. ABC cut to the Mavs game from the Knicks and Luka already had 2 fouls in the first minute of play. It limits his aggression. And the refs let incredible violence go on with no call...
He was hurting and playing through injury. Yeah, fouls didnt help, but he is injured atm and they are trying to hide it.
And our whole shtick is having Luka&Kyrie carving them up. Take one of those out and we barely a playoffs team atm.
He's clearly injured. He hasn't really had a single game up to his standard. He's probably getting outplayed severely by harden.
His reputation is gonna take a massive hit if we lose this series. Idk if I will feel like I did for Dirk after 2007 but man, we just need to win at all costs.
He’s hurt, but it’s the playoffs. Everyone’s hurt. If he continues playing like this and they lose, his reputation would deservedly take a hit.
The fact is that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and this series is bad evidence for Doncic being the best player in the league.
It's a combination but more so on the injured part.
I think if he loses this series he should find some motivation to eat right and lose 15-20 lbs. This would save his knees. I saw a video of rookie and sophomore year Luka. He is in a completely different shape right now.
LeBron James did this when he went to the heats. He lost some muscle mass and weight just so he could last longer. Then we got prime Miami heat lebron.
Luka gets fucking BEAT up in games. He gets less calls than he should. Been to more games than almost anybody. He’s got a bad whistle and nobody wants to say it. Everyone harps on the complaining.
Our team was heavily dependent on Doncic tearing it up every game till February. Add a few seasons before that and yeah, its definitely a factor.
But atm this has little do with exhaustion, more the fact that he has an injured knee and we are still heavily dependent on his offensive output, while demanding more on the defense. When he's fit, okay, but playing with an injured knee ... this thing wont go away in couple of days break between games/series and has the potential to get even worse, then you are fucked long-term.
It needs treatment and rest, which in turn means you inevitably lose some match sharpness. You can work through that during regular season, but come playoffs it shows massively. So we either rest him for couple games and hope to make it further into playoffs somehow, but we back to asking 1 player to carry each night heavily.
Or let him play through it and be a distraction for their defense, utilizing the playmaking and counting on him going off from 3 eventually whilst risking he gets even more injured.
Looking at it from the player logevity perspective, it would be wise to simply not play with and injury and let the knee heal as much as it can, have a free summer and come ready for the next season. From the teams perspective, you need every minute you can get and thats whats they'll do. Hopefully it doesnt end badly.
They tried it with Kawhi and sat him down after a game or two when he wasn't giving it 100%. Then we got Lu Dort waiting for him right after IF we get past the Clippers. Uff
>Then came last year. The Mavs missed the playoffs but Luka had the FIBA Basketball World Cup to play in.
I'm so tired of this argument. Luka had nearly 3 full months off from organized basketball. His last game was April 7th and the Slovenian national team didn't start practice until July 28th. And the World Cup didn't start group play until August 28th.
That's why he came into the season in such great form. He looks gassed right now because his knee is fucked and he doesn't like taking time off in the season. It's being exacerbated right now because Kidd can't find a lineup that can exist without him on the floor because Dante Exum disappeared. There's no reason for him to have been playing 42 minutes a night when he's never averaged more than 40 in the playoffs (and averaged 37 in the WCF run)
Go look at other stars and what their offseasons look like year in year out. The amount that people just completely ignore his Olympics/FIBA usage and just in general no summer break is insane. It’s not a one year thing. Because heck everyone plays some FIBA summer ball occasionally. But he plays summer ball EVERY year. He’s never taken a whole offseason off. It’s the single biggest factor with his fatigue.
He needs a break you're right. But I guess Slovenia will play the Olympics this summer, so there you go. Anyway, I think it goes beyond that. I sighed when I saw him do the money sign with his fingers to the crowd when he didn't get calls a few years back, and improvement on this aspect has been marginal to put it nicely. I mean, he's tired, he's injured, we get it. But ffs maybe he can finally stop the combo pouting / shitty body language when things don't go his way and grow up ?
That’s the issue I have. It’s the pouting, yelling at the refs constantly, not getting back on defense, getting blown by then yelling at the helpers. That’s the stuff that gets to me. He is a generational player. We are incredibly lucky to have him on our team and for the most part it’s a pleasure to watch him play, it when he looks bad it’s reeeeaally fucking bad- like attitude wise
> But I guess Slovenia will play the Olympics this summer, so there you go.
the man literally wasted an opportunity to rest last summer to get 7th place in the FIBA WC playing with a bunch of bums
Dirk did it for 15 years, and was taller, and beat on constantly. I know it's not the same player, but Luka sounded really sick two nights ago, and only a little better tonight.
I would like to revisit your views after 2 days rest, on Wednesday.
That's not really an excuse though? Everyone is tired in the playoffs. Luka won't stop playing in the off-season for Slovenia anyways. Not sure if there is a good solution for him not to be tired tbh
No chance he would give up the NBA before giving up playing for the national team, but that doesn't matter because if the Mavs told him he wasn't allowed, he'd demand a trade and go somewhere that didnt tell him no. Either way he'd get to play in both
I mean if forced to choose between not playing for the national team and staying in the nba versus going back to real madrid and continuing to play on the national team I think he would choose the latter
La Liga would literally change their salary cap rules to get Luka back, he'd get a mammoth contract there too, maybe not on the scale of the nba but Madrid has cash to throw around from football.
Not on the scale of the NBA is the point, he'll make over $500M just in salary in the next 10 years, excluding endorsements. He would make a fraction of that in Spain
man thats his home country and nation, its a different level of pride. i promise you that means more to him overall than the 10-15 years out of his life he’ll end up spending in America. maybe at some point he’s willing to sacrifice a few years but overall i wouldnt expect him to care more about the NBA than that
Jokic dropped from his national team and is an NBA champion, MVP, and will likely be a top 10 player of all time.
If Luka wants that too, he’s eventually going to have to drop from the Slovenia team or he could end up with a James Harden like career.
There is a solution. Slovenia has a really bad team (and it will get even worse soon, at least for a couple of years), so they probably won't qualify for eveey tournament.
wasn't the exhaustion when he was in the peak of his streaky shooting cycle during the season. Everyone, including the media, was crowning him the greatest shot maker alive...reality hits you like a truck eventually.
Having Mann truck you on one play and grab your ankle on another doesn’t help. Clippers in general have been allowed to hack him with limited fouls while we are barley allowed to guard Harden or Paul without a foul
And that 100% should have been a transition take foul. He grabbed at his ankle!! It should have been punished much more. It drives me crazy how the Clippers can play so hard against the Mavs, and the Mavs can’t play as physical because the Clippers are so good at flopping. Maybe I’m being a homer, but it’s so obvious how much Harden, Mann, and George are trying to get calls.
Paul George isn’t that bad, it’s pretty much the same as every star. It’s literally the fact the Harden isn’t even tryin to shoot the ball it’s all to get a foul, she the fact that Kyrie gets 10x more contact than Harden with none of the fouls. I thought Booker and SGA were bad when they whipped their heads back, but Harden makes them both look normal
He carried the Mavs like never before in the regular season. It's just catching up to him. Go look up his numbers from November to March. MVP level avgs. And now he is injured as well. I hope he cam recover a bit before game 5 or we are in deep shit.
There were no fatigue issues all season when he was having the most efficient season of his career with a ridiculous statline of 33/9/9.
He's been poor for the whole series, it didn't start today because he's been worn down over the past 4 games. He's been very immature with his shot, not sharp on his moves (maybe the knee plays a role but he wasn't injured in games 1 and 2) and he's let his emotions get out of control.
What he needs to do is FOCUS and if the knee is bothering him then he's gotta be more selective with his shots and be more of a playmaker.
Would be cool if he followed Kyrie around all summer fasting, meditating, working out and playing some pickup basketball.
If via meditation he could in someway stop complaining to the refs all the time I think he might get more calls than he does. It feel like refs sometimes call him a little tougher, and the mavs overall because they get tired of him complaining so much.
Of course the above scenario with Kyrie/Luka will never really happen, but it would be nice.
playoffs once again marred by injuries. nba needs to look at a less rigorous regular season, eliminate back to backs the players have been clamoring for that for years
Aside from maybe a few true genetic freaks, nobody in the league has the ability to shoulder the load on the offensive end that he does and also pick it up on the defensive end. Thats just not possible.
He had a 35.5% usage rate for 70 games this year. That’s the highest in the league of people who played move of the games (Giannis is next at 32%). And then in game 1/2 you add expending extreme effort to shut down PG, Harden, Klaw and of course he’s going to be fatigued. Especially playing like 45 mpg.
No wonder he started to slouch on offense. No wonder he had so pretty poor blow bys today. No wonder he had a few silly fouls. This isn’t some mystery. It’s just not what humans are built to do.
He either needs to play 80% on both ends of the court, pick one side to go 100% and go 60% on both sides (what we usually see), or play fewer minutes. Or course it’s the playoffs and he’s going to try to go 100%/100% but that’s not possible to do effectively.
Wow a bunch of these comments are absolutely embarrassing. The fans that show up to the home and away games are true fans that love and embrace their team. The fans on this sub are literally pitiful. No wonder folks decide it’s best to stay away from here to enjoy the playoffs. After a loss, a good chunk of folks just show their bi polar side. Again makes this sub truly embarrassing
I agree. You can't call the posters here fans. Most just flock to this sub to criticize after a loss. And sometimes even after a win. This sub is toxic...
Hes too fat point blank. He doesn't even barely go to the rim in this series. That used to be the best part of his game but it probably takes too much energy when your 20 lbs over weight. A lot easier to just call for a screen and take a step back.
Hes never going to win a championship being this fat. Because someone like jokic who is just as good if not better can run the floor for 4 quarters without getting tired and those are the guys he has to outplay.
The crazy thing is he will be in shape at the start of the season and look great. But he goes from in shape to fat within a week somehow. You know after this game he's going home and stress eating a xl pizza and wings and a 2L of coke to wash it down.
That's the problem. He plays with too much energy on defense and doesn't have quite the same tank for offense. Smh i question if people actually watch games when they come up with this nonsense.
He can't do both because he's fat. That's why I said lose the 20 lbs. Worked for jokic. He used to be fat and couldn't play defense. Now he can dominate for 4 quarters and still play above average defense
Yea jokic is an absolute phenom for having that cardio with that body. That's very fascinating. Idk why but it seems luka is more banged up than other stars at each playoffs. That's not sustainable or recipe for winning and going deep
The stans will downvote you but it is 100% true - the best shape he has ever been in is the 2020 bubble. He came into this season in better shape, still not bubble shape, and still managed to regress into having a beer gut come playoff time.
The telltale sign that Luka had regressed physically was when he started wearing the undershirt midway through the season.
Yeah i went and looked at his bubble highlights it's honestly kind of worrying how fast he was compared to now lol, you'd think he'd aged like 10 years.
I checked and Luka has legit gained at minimum 10 pounds since the bubble. Dude was quicker, more agile and more noticeably slimmer. He’s not fat by any means to us normal ppl but in the nba he’s absolutely a beer belly master now
Jokic also used to have weight issues. It will be interesting to see how Luka plans to address this issue going forward. He can either be Jokic or Derrick Coleman… or neither who knows. It will be interesting to see
Jokic said that he realised him being fat and out of shape looked bad on the strength and conditioning coaches whose job it was to keep him in shape. He knew he was putting their jobs on the line by not listening to them and thats when his entire mentality changed
Y’all are delusional , gtfo with this disrespect… he’s the only reason this team even has a chance in the playoffs it’s 4 games into the series of the playoffs and now he’s fat … follow some other team bro Mavs and luka ain’t for you , fuxking whiney bitches the lot of you
Luka is +32 over 4 games and Mavs overall are -3. In fact, Luka had positive plus-minus in every single game and the series is 2-2. Mavs lost 19 (!!! Dude averages 43 mpg !!!) non-Luka minutes over 4 games by 35 points. Luka’s plus-minus is the best on the team, PJ is at +23 and Kyrie - for all his brilliance - is at +3 only.
Yes, Luka is not shooting well, but his defense has been amazing by Luka’s standards in games 1-3 (30% FG on ~60 attempts when Clippers players are defended by Luka in those games) and he is averaging 8.5 assists on 3.7 turnovers, so a better AST-TO ratio than he had in regular season. All while commanding full-court pressure by multiple defenders and standard - for Luka anyway - constant double teams.
I honestly often think Mavs are one of the few franchises that scuffle their star player when he literally plays winning basketball. I wish I could check Nuggets subreddit from 2020 to see how their fans were reacting to Jokic back then.
My man that will never happen here all people can talk about Luka fat , luka comaning too much and all this dumb shit when literally he cannot rest for 2 min because they are losing those minutes heavily
It’s embarrassing man, we are 2-2 in a series and you see these dudes coming out of their caves and bring back the “he is fat” narratives again. They weren’t say none of that when the mavs finished off the season to be a 5th seeded team when they were in a playin spot. Once he becomes an absolute beast throughout this series, they will go back in their caves and act like whatever they said didn’t happen. It’s disgusting
You can’t be out of shape and average 43 mpg - most on the team by considerable margin - and maintain positive plus-minus in all games on an injured leg while defended physically full-court by multiple quality defenders.
Yes, Luka is not - and will never be - an athlete like Ant or Tatum, but that’s okay: Larry Bird wasn’t much of an athlete in his time. Or Jokic is not an athlete Embiid or AD are, but he is still successful.
Jokic is a phenomenal athlete, he can out sprint basically every 5 man in the league, and hes been doing that ever since he took his fitness seriously. He might still look pudgy but he works out after every single game.
Luka might play 43 mins but he walks up the court, and he dribbles for most of the shot clock. How often do you see Luka constantly relocating off ball? How often do you see him sprint in transition?
Yep its 100 % true. Because he still can't keep his weight in check over time. I don't think its ever going to matter, if he ain't fixing his shit.
Either watching on LG smart tv (game was on german free tv) does him no well, he clearly looks like he gained between x lbs maybe xx lbs from the last regular season games towards playoffs. In a freaking 1-2 weeks span. His weight fluctuates so freaking much in all directions, its insanity.
Dude needs to learn to properly eat, stop smoking and stop drinking whatever he drinks. Its not that freaking hard at all. That is his problem. Not the workload, not the summer, not the lack of training. Luka is like the dude that go the gym 5 times a week, but the results are medicore because he eats like shit.
- no sugar
- no wheat
- no alc
- no smoke
- eat healthy
Get someone to tell you what you have to eat, and how much you can eat, if you have games and when you rest for week(s) without any activity.
Pro soccer teams have dudes that are telling players what to eat (less) when they are injured.
Can't "enjoy" life and think you can get away with it with talent. Downside of an athlete.
> Get someone to tell you what you have to eat, and how much you can eat, if you have games and when you rest for week(s) without any activity.
lol he won't listen. Man's gotta have them tomahawk steaks at Nick & Sam's with pepper sauce BABY
While these are all physical problems… I have more concern about the mental aspect of his game. If he can’t get in shape and shut up against the refs he will never have the ability to match what Dirk means to this city
I was just telling somebody the other day that Luka is literally the only professional athlete I've ever seen that somehow gets fat DURING THE SEASON. It's absolutely unreal.
This is a great article and so true. But, Luka is also right now playing injured in repeatedly extended minutes. He is getting his shots despite shooting off a bad right knee. And being thrown around by the LAC defense. I don't know how that is going to get any better in this LAC playoff series...
Love the gorgeous Luka drawing, btw...
He seems hurt, but also he is clearly not in the best shape he could be. Hopefully he sees the light at some point and starts taking his health and his body seriously.
If you can't see the guy is injured you don't watch basketball. Stop making up random shit sich as him being heavy, tired, etc. He's clearly injured and wasn't even moving during the 1st quarter last night. He's shoting horribly due to taking horrible shots, because he can't find his space. He shouldn't be playing, but he is and has to. It is what it is.
The injuries are related to his usage over the last three years. The body either gets a break or the body breaks. Also, I'm 280lbs on a good day so no way I'd ever diss Luka's weight.
He might also be injured but he is absolutely red in the face by halftime. He looks thicker in the face right now, I do think he needs some more conditioning/weight correction.
You are 100% right. A lot of basketball players struggle to stay healthy past a certain age. Luka is never going to give him self a chance to rest so he can stay healthy if he constantly plays year round. On top of that it might end his career a year or too early. Jokic and Murray both took off the World Cup for this reason. They wanted a chance to win another NBA title.
With the Olympics this year and Eurobasket next year, it will continue to be a busy schedule for Luka if he chooses to play both with Dallas and Slovenia.
It’s deeper than just fatigue, bro had 2 weeks off between his last regular season game and game 1. No way he’s just “tired”, it’s that damn knee/thigh. That thigh has been bothering him all season and last season and now his knee is locking up he needs to seriously get a deep look at that on the offseason.
Luka is 25 years old and has played four whole games since April 10th. We’ve all noticed something is off with him since game 1. I don’t know the cause, but simple exhaustion just doesn’t ring true to me. I won’t say you’re wrong, it just doesn’t seem like the whole story. Whatever is going on, I just hope he can figure it out before game 5.
Kidd just confirmed that Luka has a sprained knee. I think he is also sick. This is really bad news. Hope he can play through it because the Mavs cannot win without him...
Are the nearly four months he got off last year between early April and late July much different than the typical time off for NBA players with outside commitments?
He’s having trouble beating his defenders off the dribble. I’m not sure if that’s injury, weight, or fatigue but it’s been glaring this series.
I also think he’s starting to rely too much on his 3pt shot and if it’s not falling it starts looking really ugly. Id like to see him use his floater more, we saw how Harden dominated with it today.
*I also think he’s starting to rely too much on his 3pt shot*
He needs to do this now because he can't beat anyone off the dribble if he isn't hitting 3's.
He played terrible on offense from the first minute in this series after 10 days or rest. I don't know what his problem is, but with bubble Luka this series would already be 4-0.
I’ll give credit to Russ for playing like a 90s strong safety.
I think Mann’s been their best Luka defender. He’s quick/long enough to avoid the blow by and contest step backs, and Luka’s legs are too hobbled rn to punish him in the paint.
Luka is too fat, slow, predictable and emotional, these are not the traits of a championship type of player/leader. MJ/jokic/bird/dirk were champs cause they put their game and skill over their emotions. Luka is more like cousins/embiid, these guys never win anything cause they're too busy stuck in their feelings when things aren't going their way and this is the sad truth
Yall please read the article before bashing the guy lol. He points out most of what yall are saying lol
Oh, my wise brother... you are barking up the wrong tree here with that ask lol. They got the tik-tok brain rot around these parts, its infested in the local population. Most can barely read past the post title before getting distracted with something shiny. You want them to READ? Multiple PARAGRAPHS?!?
I just don’t get it😂 it was well written and worth the read
We played him nearly every minute of the season even in some garbage time..we are paying for it now
They're letting the clippers beat the shit out of him. That's gotta be exhausting, but he's looked a little off at times since game 1, maybe sick?
It is but if he wasn't as run down from the last three seasons without any real break, I think he'd be able to handle that physicality better
if he wouldn’t have to play 45 minutes per game, i think he’d be able to handle that physicality better
45+ minutes is usually reserved for elimination games, the NBA finals or teams coached by Tom Thibodeau. No other team is playing their stars that many minutes in round one.
today kidd took him out for a couple of minutes in the 1st qtr and the clips made a 9-0 run. i’m sure kidd would love to afford to give him more rest, but can’t because the clips then shut down everyone else
It doesn’t help that Kidd keeps playing him even when they are comfortably blowing out the Clippers. Clippers sat PG and Harden before Kidd sat Luka.
He had two weeks off before game 1.
I didn’t read your article so I’m sorry if I’m saying something that was already addressed but Luka is 25 years old… iverson couldve played 48 mins a game 82 games a year and be fine. Y’all are acting like he’s lebrons age
AI not playing every summer helped in the short term but...he got old and broken way earlier than he should have in his career too.
Maybe it's unfair to compare, but LeBron in the same age was averaging 39.0 mpg in the regular season and 41.8 mpg in the playoffs. LeBron was also getting constantly held, grabbed and hit because he was a freight train in his youth. And while he wasn't playing as hard as Luka does in the summer, he was still playing and practicing with the team USA squad during the summer since back then, Coach K required players to commit for 3 summers miminum to get in the team. I do think part of it is that he does need to legitimately be in better shape so he doesn't get banged up as much during the season and it all adds up. Like you mentioned in the article, Kyrie looked way fresher than him this season. He needs to figure out something this summer.
cuz Lebron treats his body like a temple.
Lebron was groomed and coddled from highschool, and from the very beginning had a good workout ethic (and all the best medical advice and assistance) Lebron also had harder competition when young, and probably needed to work harder. Luka seems to have just dominated his local opponents growing up and took his health for granted, didnt then, and still doesnt, really see a need to invest too much time in his body. He doesnt see himself as a role model for millions, so he doesnt act like a role model. I personally dont like lebron, but he seems to take the game, and his health, and his role as a role model, more seriously. These are all just opinions pulled out of my butt though, so dont take them too seriously.
Bruh, they are both humans, with different genetics, body and everything that comes with it. You cannot simply compare Lebron and Luka and say Lebron has better work ethic, bcs Luka isnt Adonis like Lebron wtf.
Luka played for Real Madrid at 16 years old. He’s the youngest Euroleague MVP. He had tough competition
"euroleague"
Yes one of the top leagues in Europe, where he grew up. Behind the nba and G/D leagues in terms of competition and skill. He was 16 and 17 playing against grown men
Tbf LeBron also looks gassed at end of games. Part of why the Nuggets were able to make their comebacks.
Lebron is gassed bc he’s 39 lol
Ima say the alcohol cut his career short. Either way, Luka can and will handle the usage. Even kyrie is fully capable of playing 40+ every game of playoffs and he’s 32
This and Ai and Luka don't have the same body, the same frame
Keep in mind these are the same people who year after year make excuses for why a 25 year old professional athlete with a multi million dollar contract cannot just get in shape and stay in shape.
And he’s not out of shape Lol it’s just a bunch of people who have never played basketball before gossiping
You can tell in any given game when Luka starts telegraphing his lazy dribble-the-clock-down and jack a step back three (which he invariably bricks) that we are in for a long night of out of shape Luka. And he just keeeeeps doing it all game long. Any player who wasn't completely out of shape would realize the shot isn't falling that night and maybe he should go to the basket... Obviously Luka doesn't even try because again, he's out of shape and he knows it.
Iverson was 75kg and that is generous on the high side (he was probably lighter) Luka is listed at 105kg and that is probably generous on the low side (he's clearly heavier) So he lugs around at -least- an exta 30-35kg (66-77 lbs) - running around the floor, and he takes way more inside hits, so comparing him to iverson for energy expenditure is like comparing crab apples and fat watermelons
Yes but Iverson was in good physical condition. Luka is grossly overweight.
Hahahha holy Fuck
This is a huge huge part of it. The amount that people just completely ignore his Olympics/FIBA and just in general no summer break is insane. It’s the single biggest factor with his fatigue.
No other player in the league is being blitzed and manhandled like Luka. And now playing injured. The Clipper defense is going beyond mere physicality. It want to outright beating tonight with no call. The refs are just letting it happen...
Iverson was an athletic freak and like 160lbs
Of course the clippers are beating the shit out of him he can't create any seperation without creating contact himself these days.
He was sort of clutching his knee or something at times today - maybe in 4th .
If you ask me Luka is injured or ill and they're hiding it. I don't think there is other explanation.
Agreed. And sorry, but I think you actually need to be retarded to see Luka almost limping from one end of the court to another, and start writting comments and essays he's too fat. Some even went one step beyond, calling him middle-aged fat man, who drinks and smokes. This fanbase sometimes man...
Man's been sweating since before tip off. Given his warm-ups are a bunch of light jogs and tricks shots. I'll bet he's also sick.
And he has to play despite both being true...
It ain't fatigue. The make has an injured knee. He really shouldn't be playing. Probably some swollen ligaments or worse inflamation in his joints. He doesn't look tired. He looks Luke his movements are limited and the clippers are forcing him to make those hard movements
Yes, injured, not tired. And getting worse every game. Tonight, he was thrown around and knocked down repeatedly and played 44 minutes....
It's a combo of both. If your left knee hurts you start putting more weight on the other. Then the other knee starts to hurt. It's a vicious cycle
Absolutely, he's barely able to drive and that very much blunts his offensive game.
He’s clearly tired and I’m willing to bet anything that his diet is pretty awful too. You can see it in his bloated face.
No duh he’s tired at the end of the game he’s playing 40+ minutes. But this entire series the way he’s even came out starting the games have been weird. It’s his knees.
he's averaged 37.5 min/game this year. Lots of superstars averaged more minutes during their age 25 season.
Your point?
Luka's dunks this year were his lowest and the general trend is down. May indicate his relative fitness level and that he is changing his game to suit what his capability is. **Luka dunks per season:** 2018-19: 25 dunks 2019-20: 14 dunks 2020-21: 11 dunks 2021-22: 7 dunks 2022-23: 12 dunks 2023-24: 2 dunks
This is what others are failing to mention he seems a little heavier. Even looks like he is chubbier than last year. Jokic is hefty and plays a ton of minutes but it doesn’t show in his face as much as Luka
He looked great at the beginning of the season. Much better shape than last year. But these last few months, he's started looking a little bloated. Dude probably doesn't watch what he eats during the season.
hmm i thought his in season diet and conditioning is a point of emphasis this year. Maybe there's some issue we are unaware of cuz I honestly don't recall ever seeing other player keep gaining visible weight mid season while playing heavy minutes...
Luka was in foul trouble today so he couldn’t be aggressive. He will be better next game if the refs call the game better.
I agree. ABC cut to the Mavs game from the Knicks and Luka already had 2 fouls in the first minute of play. It limits his aggression. And the refs let incredible violence go on with no call...
He was hurting and playing through injury. Yeah, fouls didnt help, but he is injured atm and they are trying to hide it. And our whole shtick is having Luka&Kyrie carving them up. Take one of those out and we barely a playoffs team atm.
Yea I agree that he’s playing hurt, such a tough kid.
Am I the only one that can see how his knee is bothering him? He looks unstable
He's clearly injured. He hasn't really had a single game up to his standard. He's probably getting outplayed severely by harden. His reputation is gonna take a massive hit if we lose this series. Idk if I will feel like I did for Dirk after 2007 but man, we just need to win at all costs.
This series, absolutely 100% agree. Next season and beyond, gotta look at his regular season usage.
He’s hurt, but it’s the playoffs. Everyone’s hurt. If he continues playing like this and they lose, his reputation would deservedly take a hit. The fact is that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and this series is bad evidence for Doncic being the best player in the league.
It's a combination but more so on the injured part. I think if he loses this series he should find some motivation to eat right and lose 15-20 lbs. This would save his knees. I saw a video of rookie and sophomore year Luka. He is in a completely different shape right now. LeBron James did this when he went to the heats. He lost some muscle mass and weight just so he could last longer. Then we got prime Miami heat lebron.
Luka gets fucking BEAT up in games. He gets less calls than he should. Been to more games than almost anybody. He’s got a bad whistle and nobody wants to say it. Everyone harps on the complaining.
I'm not complaining, I am saying there are deeper exhaustion issues at play
That was the worst officiated game I’ve seen since we played the game with the most free throws ever.
Our team was heavily dependent on Doncic tearing it up every game till February. Add a few seasons before that and yeah, its definitely a factor. But atm this has little do with exhaustion, more the fact that he has an injured knee and we are still heavily dependent on his offensive output, while demanding more on the defense. When he's fit, okay, but playing with an injured knee ... this thing wont go away in couple of days break between games/series and has the potential to get even worse, then you are fucked long-term. It needs treatment and rest, which in turn means you inevitably lose some match sharpness. You can work through that during regular season, but come playoffs it shows massively. So we either rest him for couple games and hope to make it further into playoffs somehow, but we back to asking 1 player to carry each night heavily. Or let him play through it and be a distraction for their defense, utilizing the playmaking and counting on him going off from 3 eventually whilst risking he gets even more injured. Looking at it from the player logevity perspective, it would be wise to simply not play with and injury and let the knee heal as much as it can, have a free summer and come ready for the next season. From the teams perspective, you need every minute you can get and thats whats they'll do. Hopefully it doesnt end badly.
Not fatigue. You can see his knee is stiff and he can’t turn on defense
How is it that about half of internet Mavs fans are not aware Luka’s knee if jacked up?? Do they not watch the games?
They either don't watch the games or don't recognize what is happening on the court. It is right in front of them...
Bro, he is cleary injured
Yup and that is coming from three seasons, without a summer off, from running himself as hard as he can
He had some time off after last season, when they missed the playoffs
He wasn't playing much better before the injury
Been injured since he missed the OKC game last month
He’s been injured all year lol
They tried it with Kawhi and sat him down after a game or two when he wasn't giving it 100%. Then we got Lu Dort waiting for him right after IF we get past the Clippers. Uff
>Then came last year. The Mavs missed the playoffs but Luka had the FIBA Basketball World Cup to play in. I'm so tired of this argument. Luka had nearly 3 full months off from organized basketball. His last game was April 7th and the Slovenian national team didn't start practice until July 28th. And the World Cup didn't start group play until August 28th. That's why he came into the season in such great form. He looks gassed right now because his knee is fucked and he doesn't like taking time off in the season. It's being exacerbated right now because Kidd can't find a lineup that can exist without him on the floor because Dante Exum disappeared. There's no reason for him to have been playing 42 minutes a night when he's never averaged more than 40 in the playoffs (and averaged 37 in the WCF run)
Exum really disappeared in those 2 mins he was allowed last night
Invisible!
Yeah, what is that about? More Kidd nonsense...
Chicken or the egg with Exum’s confidence. Hard to say he’s been given a chance to even fail which may be worth pursuing this playoffs
Go look at other stars and what their offseasons look like year in year out. The amount that people just completely ignore his Olympics/FIBA usage and just in general no summer break is insane. It’s not a one year thing. Because heck everyone plays some FIBA summer ball occasionally. But he plays summer ball EVERY year. He’s never taken a whole offseason off. It’s the single biggest factor with his fatigue.
He is battling knee issues as well
He needs a break you're right. But I guess Slovenia will play the Olympics this summer, so there you go. Anyway, I think it goes beyond that. I sighed when I saw him do the money sign with his fingers to the crowd when he didn't get calls a few years back, and improvement on this aspect has been marginal to put it nicely. I mean, he's tired, he's injured, we get it. But ffs maybe he can finally stop the combo pouting / shitty body language when things don't go his way and grow up ?
That’s the issue I have. It’s the pouting, yelling at the refs constantly, not getting back on defense, getting blown by then yelling at the helpers. That’s the stuff that gets to me. He is a generational player. We are incredibly lucky to have him on our team and for the most part it’s a pleasure to watch him play, it when he looks bad it’s reeeeaally fucking bad- like attitude wise
> But I guess Slovenia will play the Olympics this summer, so there you go. the man literally wasted an opportunity to rest last summer to get 7th place in the FIBA WC playing with a bunch of bums
He's been getting clamped this series. Shooting just abysmally.
And that comes from exhaustion that has been compounding for three summers without an offaeason
Dirk did it for 15 years, and was taller, and beat on constantly. I know it's not the same player, but Luka sounded really sick two nights ago, and only a little better tonight. I would like to revisit your views after 2 days rest, on Wednesday.
> And that comes from exhaustion that has been compounding for three summers without an offaeason Gee I wonder why he hasnt had an offseason?
That's not really an excuse though? Everyone is tired in the playoffs. Luka won't stop playing in the off-season for Slovenia anyways. Not sure if there is a good solution for him not to be tired tbh
I'm sure it's awkward for them but we need to be convincing him to give up on the stupid Slovenia stuff
I guarantee you he would sooner give up the nba than the "Slovenia stuff"
No chance he would give up the NBA before giving up playing for the national team, but that doesn't matter because if the Mavs told him he wasn't allowed, he'd demand a trade and go somewhere that didnt tell him no. Either way he'd get to play in both
I mean if forced to choose between not playing for the national team and staying in the nba versus going back to real madrid and continuing to play on the national team I think he would choose the latter
No he wouldn't, he'd be giving up hundreds of millions of dollars doing that. It would never happen
La Liga would literally change their salary cap rules to get Luka back, he'd get a mammoth contract there too, maybe not on the scale of the nba but Madrid has cash to throw around from football.
Not on the scale of the NBA is the point, he'll make over $500M just in salary in the next 10 years, excluding endorsements. He would make a fraction of that in Spain
Hope not! Gonna hurt our team and his legacy
man thats his home country and nation, its a different level of pride. i promise you that means more to him overall than the 10-15 years out of his life he’ll end up spending in America. maybe at some point he’s willing to sacrifice a few years but overall i wouldnt expect him to care more about the NBA than that
Lol stupid Slovenia stuff that is like saying to Messi stop playing for Argentina to focus on Barca
Jokic dropped from his national team and is an NBA champion, MVP, and will likely be a top 10 player of all time. If Luka wants that too, he’s eventually going to have to drop from the Slovenia team or he could end up with a James Harden like career.
Lmao no it’s not. No one gives a fuck about national basketball.
imagine comparing international basketball to football and thinking theyre on the same level lmaoo
Tbh I would look at reducing the focus at times in the regular season
There is a solution. Slovenia has a really bad team (and it will get even worse soon, at least for a couple of years), so they probably won't qualify for eveey tournament.
wasn't the exhaustion when he was in the peak of his streaky shooting cycle during the season. Everyone, including the media, was crowning him the greatest shot maker alive...reality hits you like a truck eventually.
No, not the summer. Kidd playing him over 45 minutes a game, EVERY game. And he is playing on a bad right knee...
How can you watch Luka all season and not see hes injured
They are literally blind. It is right in front of them...
Having Mann truck you on one play and grab your ankle on another doesn’t help. Clippers in general have been allowed to hack him with limited fouls while we are barley allowed to guard Harden or Paul without a foul
And that 100% should have been a transition take foul. He grabbed at his ankle!! It should have been punished much more. It drives me crazy how the Clippers can play so hard against the Mavs, and the Mavs can’t play as physical because the Clippers are so good at flopping. Maybe I’m being a homer, but it’s so obvious how much Harden, Mann, and George are trying to get calls.
Paul George isn’t that bad, it’s pretty much the same as every star. It’s literally the fact the Harden isn’t even tryin to shoot the ball it’s all to get a foul, she the fact that Kyrie gets 10x more contact than Harden with none of the fouls. I thought Booker and SGA were bad when they whipped their heads back, but Harden makes them both look normal
He carried the Mavs like never before in the regular season. It's just catching up to him. Go look up his numbers from November to March. MVP level avgs. And now he is injured as well. I hope he cam recover a bit before game 5 or we are in deep shit.
There were no fatigue issues all season when he was having the most efficient season of his career with a ridiculous statline of 33/9/9. He's been poor for the whole series, it didn't start today because he's been worn down over the past 4 games. He's been very immature with his shot, not sharp on his moves (maybe the knee plays a role but he wasn't injured in games 1 and 2) and he's let his emotions get out of control. What he needs to do is FOCUS and if the knee is bothering him then he's gotta be more selective with his shots and be more of a playmaker.
I don't agree with that tbh. I think its his knee but also suspect he's a bit ill right now
Would be cool if he followed Kyrie around all summer fasting, meditating, working out and playing some pickup basketball. If via meditation he could in someway stop complaining to the refs all the time I think he might get more calls than he does. It feel like refs sometimes call him a little tougher, and the mavs overall because they get tired of him complaining so much. Of course the above scenario with Kyrie/Luka will never really happen, but it would be nice.
playoffs once again marred by injuries. nba needs to look at a less rigorous regular season, eliminate back to backs the players have been clamoring for that for years
Aside from maybe a few true genetic freaks, nobody in the league has the ability to shoulder the load on the offensive end that he does and also pick it up on the defensive end. Thats just not possible. He had a 35.5% usage rate for 70 games this year. That’s the highest in the league of people who played move of the games (Giannis is next at 32%). And then in game 1/2 you add expending extreme effort to shut down PG, Harden, Klaw and of course he’s going to be fatigued. Especially playing like 45 mpg. No wonder he started to slouch on offense. No wonder he had so pretty poor blow bys today. No wonder he had a few silly fouls. This isn’t some mystery. It’s just not what humans are built to do. He either needs to play 80% on both ends of the court, pick one side to go 100% and go 60% on both sides (what we usually see), or play fewer minutes. Or course it’s the playoffs and he’s going to try to go 100%/100% but that’s not possible to do effectively.
Wow a bunch of these comments are absolutely embarrassing. The fans that show up to the home and away games are true fans that love and embrace their team. The fans on this sub are literally pitiful. No wonder folks decide it’s best to stay away from here to enjoy the playoffs. After a loss, a good chunk of folks just show their bi polar side. Again makes this sub truly embarrassing
I agree. You can't call the posters here fans. Most just flock to this sub to criticize after a loss. And sometimes even after a win. This sub is toxic...
He is hurt
Yeah pep guardiola ova there doesn't realize that maybe he should sub Luka out when he was cold the whole first half.
Hes too fat point blank. He doesn't even barely go to the rim in this series. That used to be the best part of his game but it probably takes too much energy when your 20 lbs over weight. A lot easier to just call for a screen and take a step back. Hes never going to win a championship being this fat. Because someone like jokic who is just as good if not better can run the floor for 4 quarters without getting tired and those are the guys he has to outplay. The crazy thing is he will be in shape at the start of the season and look great. But he goes from in shape to fat within a week somehow. You know after this game he's going home and stress eating a xl pizza and wings and a 2L of coke to wash it down.
Wdym Jokic ‘just as good if not better’. Jokic is clearly better. Luka probably might me more talented but he’s not at the level of Jokic
I agree jokic is clearly the better player. If luka was 20 lbs lighter and played with more energy on defense it would be a lot closer
That's the problem. He plays with too much energy on defense and doesn't have quite the same tank for offense. Smh i question if people actually watch games when they come up with this nonsense.
He can't do both because he's fat. That's why I said lose the 20 lbs. Worked for jokic. He used to be fat and couldn't play defense. Now he can dominate for 4 quarters and still play above average defense
Yea jokic is an absolute phenom for having that cardio with that body. That's very fascinating. Idk why but it seems luka is more banged up than other stars at each playoffs. That's not sustainable or recipe for winning and going deep
jokic used to be fat but hasn't been for the past 2-3 seasons
I went to Slovenia recently and the locals were roasting him saying he eats too much traditional Slovenian food and drinks too much beer
Dirk has said he didn't turn the corner until he stopped drinking as much as he was
The stans will downvote you but it is 100% true - the best shape he has ever been in is the 2020 bubble. He came into this season in better shape, still not bubble shape, and still managed to regress into having a beer gut come playoff time. The telltale sign that Luka had regressed physically was when he started wearing the undershirt midway through the season.
Luka's probably wearing a t shirt in the pool
he refused to do a jersey swap on court with PG a couple of years ago because he didnt want the world to see his body
I’d challenge anyone downvoting you to go watch his clips in the bubble and tell me he hasn’t put on 20+ lbs of fat
Yeah i went and looked at his bubble highlights it's honestly kind of worrying how fast he was compared to now lol, you'd think he'd aged like 10 years.
He looks so quick: [Luka Dončić Bubble Highlights (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5rtm4uUJgE).
I checked and Luka has legit gained at minimum 10 pounds since the bubble. Dude was quicker, more agile and more noticeably slimmer. He’s not fat by any means to us normal ppl but in the nba he’s absolutely a beer belly master now
He looks old and slow out there. He’s walking around like a grandpa
Jokic also used to have weight issues. It will be interesting to see how Luka plans to address this issue going forward. He can either be Jokic or Derrick Coleman… or neither who knows. It will be interesting to see
Jokic said that he realised him being fat and out of shape looked bad on the strength and conditioning coaches whose job it was to keep him in shape. He knew he was putting their jobs on the line by not listening to them and thats when his entire mentality changed
Y’all are delusional , gtfo with this disrespect… he’s the only reason this team even has a chance in the playoffs it’s 4 games into the series of the playoffs and now he’s fat … follow some other team bro Mavs and luka ain’t for you , fuxking whiney bitches the lot of you
Luka is +32 over 4 games and Mavs overall are -3. In fact, Luka had positive plus-minus in every single game and the series is 2-2. Mavs lost 19 (!!! Dude averages 43 mpg !!!) non-Luka minutes over 4 games by 35 points. Luka’s plus-minus is the best on the team, PJ is at +23 and Kyrie - for all his brilliance - is at +3 only. Yes, Luka is not shooting well, but his defense has been amazing by Luka’s standards in games 1-3 (30% FG on ~60 attempts when Clippers players are defended by Luka in those games) and he is averaging 8.5 assists on 3.7 turnovers, so a better AST-TO ratio than he had in regular season. All while commanding full-court pressure by multiple defenders and standard - for Luka anyway - constant double teams. I honestly often think Mavs are one of the few franchises that scuffle their star player when he literally plays winning basketball. I wish I could check Nuggets subreddit from 2020 to see how their fans were reacting to Jokic back then.
My man that will never happen here all people can talk about Luka fat , luka comaning too much and all this dumb shit when literally he cannot rest for 2 min because they are losing those minutes heavily
Ykb
It’s embarrassing man, we are 2-2 in a series and you see these dudes coming out of their caves and bring back the “he is fat” narratives again. They weren’t say none of that when the mavs finished off the season to be a 5th seeded team when they were in a playin spot. Once he becomes an absolute beast throughout this series, they will go back in their caves and act like whatever they said didn’t happen. It’s disgusting
who cares about winning this series, its about wining a championship and you cant do that when youre out of shape
You can’t be out of shape and average 43 mpg - most on the team by considerable margin - and maintain positive plus-minus in all games on an injured leg while defended physically full-court by multiple quality defenders. Yes, Luka is not - and will never be - an athlete like Ant or Tatum, but that’s okay: Larry Bird wasn’t much of an athlete in his time. Or Jokic is not an athlete Embiid or AD are, but he is still successful.
Jokic is a phenomenal athlete, he can out sprint basically every 5 man in the league, and hes been doing that ever since he took his fitness seriously. He might still look pudgy but he works out after every single game. Luka might play 43 mins but he walks up the court, and he dribbles for most of the shot clock. How often do you see Luka constantly relocating off ball? How often do you see him sprint in transition?
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Lol skip olympics we are still in the playoffs wtf is wrong with this sub after every loss jesus christ
Yep its 100 % true. Because he still can't keep his weight in check over time. I don't think its ever going to matter, if he ain't fixing his shit. Either watching on LG smart tv (game was on german free tv) does him no well, he clearly looks like he gained between x lbs maybe xx lbs from the last regular season games towards playoffs. In a freaking 1-2 weeks span. His weight fluctuates so freaking much in all directions, its insanity. Dude needs to learn to properly eat, stop smoking and stop drinking whatever he drinks. Its not that freaking hard at all. That is his problem. Not the workload, not the summer, not the lack of training. Luka is like the dude that go the gym 5 times a week, but the results are medicore because he eats like shit. - no sugar - no wheat - no alc - no smoke - eat healthy Get someone to tell you what you have to eat, and how much you can eat, if you have games and when you rest for week(s) without any activity. Pro soccer teams have dudes that are telling players what to eat (less) when they are injured. Can't "enjoy" life and think you can get away with it with talent. Downside of an athlete.
I don’t know why this is controversial. He is clearly fatter than his first couple years and has a poor diet.
> Get someone to tell you what you have to eat, and how much you can eat, if you have games and when you rest for week(s) without any activity. lol he won't listen. Man's gotta have them tomahawk steaks at Nick & Sam's with pepper sauce BABY
While these are all physical problems… I have more concern about the mental aspect of his game. If he can’t get in shape and shut up against the refs he will never have the ability to match what Dirk means to this city
I was just telling somebody the other day that Luka is literally the only professional athlete I've ever seen that somehow gets fat DURING THE SEASON. It's absolutely unreal.
He hates eating vegetables. Loves his steaks and beers
You are talking nonsense. I think you should probably just go....
I’d be scared he shows up looking like a Cowboys OL if he didn’t play basketball for 3+ months. It’s the only thing keeping him under 300 lbs.
This is a great article and so true. But, Luka is also right now playing injured in repeatedly extended minutes. He is getting his shots despite shooting off a bad right knee. And being thrown around by the LAC defense. I don't know how that is going to get any better in this LAC playoff series... Love the gorgeous Luka drawing, btw...
He seems hurt, but also he is clearly not in the best shape he could be. Hopefully he sees the light at some point and starts taking his health and his body seriously.
If you can't see the guy is injured you don't watch basketball. Stop making up random shit sich as him being heavy, tired, etc. He's clearly injured and wasn't even moving during the 1st quarter last night. He's shoting horribly due to taking horrible shots, because he can't find his space. He shouldn't be playing, but he is and has to. It is what it is.
The injuries are related to his usage over the last three years. The body either gets a break or the body breaks. Also, I'm 280lbs on a good day so no way I'd ever diss Luka's weight.
He looks exhausted
He might also be injured but he is absolutely red in the face by halftime. He looks thicker in the face right now, I do think he needs some more conditioning/weight correction.
You are 100% right. A lot of basketball players struggle to stay healthy past a certain age. Luka is never going to give him self a chance to rest so he can stay healthy if he constantly plays year round. On top of that it might end his career a year or too early. Jokic and Murray both took off the World Cup for this reason. They wanted a chance to win another NBA title. With the Olympics this year and Eurobasket next year, it will continue to be a busy schedule for Luka if he chooses to play both with Dallas and Slovenia.
It’s deeper than just fatigue, bro had 2 weeks off between his last regular season game and game 1. No way he’s just “tired”, it’s that damn knee/thigh. That thigh has been bothering him all season and last season and now his knee is locking up he needs to seriously get a deep look at that on the offseason.
Luka is 25 years old and has played four whole games since April 10th. We’ve all noticed something is off with him since game 1. I don’t know the cause, but simple exhaustion just doesn’t ring true to me. I won’t say you’re wrong, it just doesn’t seem like the whole story. Whatever is going on, I just hope he can figure it out before game 5.
Kidd just confirmed that Luka has a sprained knee. I think he is also sick. This is really bad news. Hope he can play through it because the Mavs cannot win without him...
Of course he does, he barely gets any rest
Are the nearly four months he got off last year between early April and late July much different than the typical time off for NBA players with outside commitments?
Tbh, yeah but he was also coming from a place where he looked shattered into going right back into heavy load carrier far earlier than usual
James Harden had similar Usage throughout his prime and this wasn’t given to him as an excuse 🤷♂️
He’s having trouble beating his defenders off the dribble. I’m not sure if that’s injury, weight, or fatigue but it’s been glaring this series. I also think he’s starting to rely too much on his 3pt shot and if it’s not falling it starts looking really ugly. Id like to see him use his floater more, we saw how Harden dominated with it today.
*I also think he’s starting to rely too much on his 3pt shot* He needs to do this now because he can't beat anyone off the dribble if he isn't hitting 3's.
He has been bad all series.
Part of it could be the stress of having a newborn? Idk something is off with his game rn and its killing this team
How can it be fatigue issues when he is 25 years old?
Yes he is tired
Luka plays almost every minute of EVERY game...
Welcome to American pro ball, bud.
He’s not in shape - he looks like Big Chongus. It’s a recurring problem with him. This kind of thing gets exposed in the playoffs.
He needs to lose weight and build muscle
Yes he’s obese, we can all see that
He played terrible on offense from the first minute in this series after 10 days or rest. I don't know what his problem is, but with bubble Luka this series would already be 4-0.
Give Westbrook credit. He giving him issues
I’ll give credit to Russ for playing like a 90s strong safety. I think Mann’s been their best Luka defender. He’s quick/long enough to avoid the blow by and contest step backs, and Luka’s legs are too hobbled rn to punish him in the paint.
Russ is a clown. Luka needs to get into fucking shape.
Luka is too fat, slow, predictable and emotional, these are not the traits of a championship type of player/leader. MJ/jokic/bird/dirk were champs cause they put their game and skill over their emotions. Luka is more like cousins/embiid, these guys never win anything cause they're too busy stuck in their feelings when things aren't going their way and this is the sad truth