Luka Doncic proved a lot of doubters wrong over the course of the 2021-22 NBA season. After a slow start to the season for him and the Dallas Mavericks, the team completely flipped on his head at the start of the new year. Doncic was one of the best players in the league as he led the Mavs to 52 wins and finished 5th in MVP voting.
The Mavericks went all the way to the Conference Finals, but the Golden State Warriors proved to be too much. The Mavericks did end up eliminating the 64-win Phoenix Suns in dominant fashion in Game 7
Luka’s slow start was attributed to the Slovenian coming into the season out of shape after a busy summer where he led Slovenia through Olympic qualifiers and the Tokyo Olympics. This is another crowded summer for Luka with representing his country in the World Cup Qualifiers and EuroBasket 2022, so he has already started working on his fitness just two weeks after his NBA season ended.
Luka Doncic in the lab putting in work, he’s got a busy summer of basketball ahead of him #MFFL
(🎥: anze9/IG) pic.twitter.com/lJ3haoZTCd
— Kevin Gray Jr. (@KevinGraySports) June 9, 2022
Doncic has previously said he values winning international trophies like the Olympic Gold Medal more than the NBA Championship. That is fair considering Luka is trying to achieve something that the European basketball world never thought was possible with Slovenia.
They are looking to retain their EuroBasket crown after Goran Dragic and Doncic led them to the 2017 title. Luka was just 17 years at the time and is now going back to EuroBakset as arguably the best player in the tournament.
If Doncic can maintain this heavy summer schedule and not be fatigued or burned out entering the season, the Mavericks should feel optimistic about their future considering how they performed this season. Doncic looks more motivated than ever and we may be seeing him enter his absolute prime years soon.
