Luka Doncic is proving that he is one of the best players in the world, if not the best, every single time he takes the court. On the second night of a back-to-back at EuroBasket 2022, Doncic dropped the second-highest individual point total in the competition’s history with a 47-piece against the French national team headlined by NBA talents Rudy Gobert and Evan Fournier.
Doncic proves his doubters wrong every time he takes the court, yet many have still found reasons to criticize Doncic, primarily his body. After coming into the season out of shape last year, Luka’s lack of conditioning has become a major talking point. However, his father, Sasa Doncic, put that to bed after Luka’s historic performance against France in an exclusive with BasketNews.
“What do I really think? People who say that should ask themselves if they know what basketball is. If they see a problem with Luka, that he has too much weight or I don’t even know what… He’s Top 5 in the NBA. He’s almost the MVP of every game here in the EuroBasket. And everybody is talking about some bad things. But go to the court and try to stop him. If he’s so bad, like everybody says, stop him on the court.” (h/t BasketNews)
The first and only thing Luka Doncic's father Sasa asked his son straight after the game wasn't about the 47-point show at all.
The interview with Sasa Doncic was entertaining as always.https://t.co/73kJGpjrrz
— Donatas Urbonas (@Urbodo) September 7, 2022
Will Luka Doncic’s Conditioning Be A Worry Next Season?
Luka likes to live his life the way he sees fit. As long as he is dominating on the court, it shouldn’t matter to anyone what his size is. However, Doncic has put in an active effort to slim down this offseason and is looking like he’s in terrific shape at EuroBasket.
Considering training camp doesn’t start too long after EuroBasket, Doncic will go into the season in shape. The only question is whether the wear and tear from the tournament will wear him down.
As long as Luka is the leader on the court, nobody is going to care about how much weight he carries or whether he looks chubby. He has fought through those criticisms in past seasons to be a force in the league, and he will hope to do so again this season.
