LUKA DONčIć KNOWS that you simply’re pondering he appears lean as heck now. That’s as a result of he’s pondering the very same factor.
It’s an early morning in July in a quiet city in Croatia, and the five-time NBA All-Star is alone on a personal basketball court docket, understanding with coach Anže Maček, halfway by means of a 90-minute session that blends weight coaching, agility work, and capturing drills. That is the primary of the day’s two workouts for the Los Angeles Lakers star in what often is the most pivotal season of his profession, and he’s doing it fasted, simply as he’s finished for a lot of the summer time. In the intervening time, he’s driving to the basket, a thick resistance band strapped to his waist, pulling in opposition to him throughout each shot.
The exercise consists of a collection of circuits, every set as much as embrace an on-court problem (like these resistance band lay-ups) and an upper-body and lower-body train. The power, which is situated within the city the place Dončić has vacationed each summer time since he was a teen, didn’t have weights till earlier this month when he had dumbbells, barbells, weight plates, and med balls trucked in. Now, Dončić can do all the pieces from trap-bar deadlifts to landmine overhead presses—and he works by means of sprints and jumps on an out of doors monitor too.
He strikes swiftly from circuit to circuit, banging out hip stretches one second, working by means of renegade rows the following. It’s a session with barely any breathers, which is ok. This model of Dončić doesn’t want them. This Luka is…totally different.
Workouts just like the deadlift give Dončić further glute power to speed up quickly but in addition cease immediately on the court docket.
You see it in the best way his Jordan Model jersey hangs free, and within the new hints of definition on his arms. You see it within the full absence of fatigue he exhibits when going from heavy Romanian deadlifts to dumbbell bench presses to lateral bounds—one proper after the opposite. And also you see it in the best way he smiles when he admits that he’s observed his glossy silhouette within the mirror. He subtly nods to his reshaped delts throughout our Zoom interview. And as he splays out his long-limbed physique on the bleachers within the fitness center, he appears relaxed, calmly making eye contact. His arms look longer at this time than standard, maybe as a result of he’s simply so downright skinny, a reality which now (lastly!) he sheepishly acknowledges. “Simply visually, I might say my complete physique appears higher,” he says.
And sure, in some way, on this planet of sports activities, the best way you look issues—despite the fact that it shouldn’t. From Nikola Jokić to Patrick Mahomes to Shaq, a long time earlier than all of them, we’ve seen a great deal of proof that athletic dominance is available in all sizes and shapes. However ask anybody to select an athlete in a crowd, they usually’ll nearly all the time level to the dude with LeBron-size arms and Ronaldo-level abs.
Dončić, nonetheless simply 26 years outdated, is definitely a topflight athlete (extra on that quickly). However he’s by no means fairly regarded the Greek god half. And in some way, that shortcoming too usually has undercut his 5 All-NBA first group nods and his 82 profession triple-doubles (already seventh all-time). Final August, critics blasted him for wanting “fats” and “out of form” throughout a charity recreation. The second the Mavs traded him to the Lakers in February, rumors leaked that Dallas didn’t wish to take care of his love of beer and hookah. Even this summer time, the NBA internet has chattered that Dončić is on Ozempic.
What the Luka haters have by no means seen is that this: Dončić slogging through two-a-days in Croatia whereas sticking to a gluten-free, low-sugar diet that features no less than 250 grams of protein and one almond milk–fueled shake a day. They by no means knew that Dončić had quietly constructed a health group a number of years in the past to assist improve his (very harmful) pure items. And so they by no means realized how a lot he dedicated to coaching and weight-reduction plan this summer time.
Right here’s the factor too: Even for those who thought Luka Dončić had a dadbod, he was already a top-five NBA participant. And after pushing arduous this offseason, he can’t assist however marvel how excessive he’ll degree up. “If I cease now,” Dončić says of his effort to rebuild his physique, “it was all for nothing.”
SEVERAL WEEKS BEFORE THIS non-public exercise in Croatia, Luka Dončić was in Madrid, standing in a lab on a drive plate, a tool that measures the quantity of vitality an athlete can drive into the bottom. Usually, sports activities scientists use drive plates to measure how rapidly an athlete can bounce and land. However Maček and Javier Barrio, Dončić’s physiotherapist, had been looking forward to one thing else: Dončić’s steadiness.
It was mid-Might, and Dončić was halfway by means of a battery of exams designed to evaluate his present health degree. Over the course of three days, he gave blood, urine, and stool samples, took a collection of MRIs and ultrasounds, and labored by means of extra bodily exams. These exams concerned drive plate work that recorded how his toes utilized strain into the bottom. Fairly often, slow-motion cameras had been recording his motion. All this knowledge knowledgeable how he educated all through the remainder of the summer time.
All Dončić needed to do after this season ended was practice, and he made that clear to his supervisor, Lara Beth Seager, on Might 1, sooner or later after the Lakers had been ousted from the primary spherical of the NBA playoffs. The loss was the nadir of Dončić’s worst NBA season. For all of the criticism of Dončić’s physique, till this previous season, no one might diss his physique of labor: He’d by no means performed fewer than 60 video games in a season, and only a yr earlier, he’d powered the Mavs to the NBA Finals. No such luck in 2024. A calf harm knocked him out for all of January. Then Dallas despatched him packing. Then got here the 4-1 playoff collection decimation by the hands of the Timberwolves. Someday after that loss, Dončić texted Seager to start out his offseason coaching program ASAP. “So each summer time I strive my greatest to work on various things,” he says. “Clearly, I am very aggressive. This summer time was just a bit bit totally different, you already know. It form of motivated me to be even higher.”
Luka Dončić with coach with Anže Maček in Croatia, July 17, 2025. His exercises usually characteristic supersets that embrace an upper-body train, a lower-body transfer, and a basketball-specific drill.
The early postseason exit gave Dončić greater than motivation. It granted him a full 4 months of relaxation. That’s allowed him to work in lockstep with what he calls Crew Luka, a trio of wellness specialists—Barrio, Maček, and nutritionist Lucia Almendros—who he employed again in 2023, after the Mavs had missed the playoffs. Again then, he was a 24-year-old trying to find methods to take his recreation to the following degree.
At the beginning of his NBA profession, Dončić largely obtained recommendation from Mavs trainers and nutritionists. In the course of the offseasons, when he returned to Europe, the restricted steering left him flailing. And throughout the season, the vicious NBA journey schedules gave him little time to wash up his weight-reduction plan. “Particularly within the NBA, you journey nearly on a regular basis,” he says. “You are by no means residence. And for me, you already know, after the season, going again residence, it is a huge factor, you already know. I see my buddies, my household, I see everyone. So it is not straightforward for positive.”
He goes on. “After I got here to the NBA, I used to be 18,” he says. “Truthfully, I did not know what to anticipate these first 4 or 5 years. Then I mentioned, ‘I would like to do that.’”
Straight away, so a lot of Dončić’s previous conditioning struggles begin to make sense. On the court docket, he was a right away match within the NBA system; off it, he struggled to navigate NBA life. However since 2023, when Crew Luka entered the image, he has progressively gained stability. And this summer time, he and the group have discovered one other gear. Since June, Dončić has gone on an intermittent fasting plan designed to restrict irritation and assist his physique get better higher. Six days every week, he chokes down two high-protein meals and one protein shake—and he doesn’t have that first meal till he’s crushed his 90-minute morning exercise.
Within the fitness center, his group has targeted on footwork and deceleration. Dončić’s on-court superpower has by no means been uncooked pace; don’t anticipate to see him tackle IShowspeed on Instagram anytime quickly. However few athletes can change speeds like Luka, who can cost ahead on a drive, solely to cease abruptly whereas his defender remains to be flailing and settle in for a straightforward jumper. This requires Dončić’s muscle tissues to swiftly contract and decelerate his physique, creating what’s often called eccentric drive.
Dončić engaged on his hops and pace.
“His eccentric drive is superb,” Barrio says of Dončić. “And his power is off the charts, actually; he has actually extremely robust legs. Additionally, his heart of gravity is actually very low. So when he’s in his place, when he will get low in his stance, it’s very tough to maneuver him, you already know?”
Such athletic items aren’t as instantly evident as a highlight-reel dunk from Shai-Gilgeous Alexander, or a god-level chasedown block from LeBron. Eccentric drive doesn’t fill out a tank prime or present up on a vertical-jump check. However it’s an unheralded key to the sport. Dončić has all the time valued such stealthy talents. “Not all the pieces is leaping excessive,” he says. “I believe I’m very athletic in different stuff. Balancing, controlling my physique, what I do after I cease, slowing down.”
After a full offseason with Crew Luka, his vertical leap has probably improved too. “This yr, we didn’t measure the leaping but,” he says. “However I believe it’s just a little bit larger.”
THE HARDEST PART of Luka’s offseason program got here at first. Shortly after the run of exams in Might revealed that he was absolutely wholesome, Barrio instructed him to give up taking part in basketball for a full month. “Simply to keep away from the basketball court docket for one month on this offseason,” Barrio says. “We allow them to put the ball away. We simply had been doing another sorts of issues.”
The objective: For the primary time in years, Dončić would let his physique get better fully from the fixed pounding of basketball. The summer time earlier than, in 2024, Luka had discovered little time to breathe. For the reason that Mavs had made the NBA Finals, he’d performed into mid-June. Then, simply weeks later, he suited up for the Slovenian nationwide group in an Olympic qualifying event, ultimately shedding to Greece within the semis.
This summer time, Crew Luka’s had three full months to rebuild Dončić. In order that they dared to get rid of court docket time—and he disagreed at first. However he rapidly crammed the time with a weights routine that helped him construct total-body power. And he ultimately discovered a distraction taking part in pickleball and padel (suppose: pickleball meets squash), typically in opposition to buddies, typically with Barrio and Maček. For Dončić, the brand new video games had been a blast from his childhood previous, lengthy earlier than he fell in love with basketball. They challenged new muscle tissues, relieving his knees, because of fewer vertical jumps, whereas strengthening adductors, glutes, and ankles with footwork. “Originally, it was arduous,” he says. “I can’t be with out basketball. However after I was just a little child, I performed a variety of sports activities.” He channeled that period—and maintained his aggressive fireplace. “There have been a variety of indignant moments, too, after we would lose,” he says. “However I didn’t lose a lot.”
And he stayed hungry for hoops. By early June, Crew Luka lastly let Dončić hit the court docket, in what was presupposed to be a 45-minute shootaround. Dončić nailed his first shot and labored out for an hour (earlier than Barrio satisfied him to relaxation). He instantly texted Seager three smiley faces. “I believe that this summer time, he sees the distinction,” says Barrio, “and he’s actually comfortable.”
Dončić has maintained that momentum all through July as Maček and Barrio have targeted extra on honing his superpower—that capability to generate eccentric drive from all angles. Maček trains that with these resistance band drills, which always drive the guard off-center, pushing his ankles, calves, and quads to sluggish his landings. The strikes sharpen that trademark Luka elusiveness whereas additionally retaining his joints secure when he lands or steps at odd angles.
Different drills have challenged Luka’s much-criticized conditioning. Halfway by means of this session, Dončić heads onto the monitor, the place Maček has arrange a collection of hurdles. Luka sprints by means of them repeatedly, going over them first, then round every impediment. Then Maček wraps a miniband round Dončić’s ankles and pushes him to shuffle forwards and backwards over a line, torching his glutes and firing up his lungs.
The well-rounded exercise ends with Luka precisely the place he all the time needs to be: taking jumpers on the court docket. He spends the previous few minutes working from the highest of the important thing, catching the ball, dribbling and deking, then pulling up for jumpers, as if experimenting together with his newer, slimmer physique. He hasn’t performed five-on-five but this summer time, he says, so he gained’t know if he’s really extra explosive on the court docket till late August, when he fits up for Slovenia in EuroBasket qualifying tourney play. However he does know that he hasn’t felt this good in years. “My sleeping, my physique, my all the pieces…I felt extra rested,” he says.
That’s why he plans to maintain evolving this offseason formulation—and keep his renewed emphasis on health and conditioning. When he thinks again to his rookie yr, he remembers seeing Mavs legend Dirk Nowitzki, then in his last season in Dallas, coaching arduous. Dončić additionally noticed the identical qualities from two gamers he’s lengthy admired, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, each of whom had been recognized for his or her maniacal offseason coaching regimens—and their dominance late into their careers. “MJ and Kobe, you already know, they actually did so much of their careers,” he says. “They sacrificed so much.” Crew Luka is predicted to develop within the coming years, probably including a masseuse and a specialised capturing coach.
Luka’s hope is that every one this work will assist him keep dominant for the following decade to come back, critics of his conditioning and weight be damned. “Clearly, be the most effective that I could be, care for myself,” he says. “This yr, with my group, I believe we did an enormous step. However that is simply the beginning, you already know. I have to preserve going. Can’t cease.”
(An earlier model of the story incorrectly said that Dončić recorded a 42-inch vertical leap on the 2018 NBA Scouting Mix. He in actual fact didn’t take part within the 2018 NBA Scouting Mix.)
Andrew Heffernan, CSCS is a well being, health, and Feldenkrais coach, and an award-winning well being and health author. His writing has been featured in Males’s Well being, Expertise Life, Onnit.com, and Openfit, amongst different shops. An omnivorous athlete, Andrew is black belt in karate, a loyal weight lifter, and a frequent excessive finisher in triathlon and Spartan races. He lives in Los Angeles together with his spouse and their two kids.
Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S., is the health director of Males’s Well being and a licensed coach with greater than 10 years of coaching expertise. He is logged coaching time with NFL athletes and monitor athletes and his present coaching routine contains weight coaching, HIIT conditioning, and yoga. Earlier than becoming a member of Males’s Well being, he served as a sports activities columnist and tech columnist for the New York Day by day Information.
